shtetl

noun

ˈshte-tᵊl 

ˈshtā-

variants or less commonly shtetel

plural shtetlach ˈshtet-ˌläḵ 

ˈshtāt-

also shtetels

: a small Jewish town or village formerly found in Eastern Europe

Examples of shtetl in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

On the one hand, as Tevye is fond of saying, the story unfolds in a hardscrabble shtetl in the Ukrainian plains in the months leading up to the Russian Empire’s abortive 1905 revolution. —David Lyman, The Enquirer, 25 July 2025

The banal village tunes that Mahler altered into sinister mock vulgarities—did these not recall the raffish klezmer bands, the wandering musicians who played at shtetl weddings? —David Denby, The Atlantic, 1 Apr. 2025

Informers in the shtetl were wicked, and Jews who prayed, studied, fasted, were honest, and gave to charity were considered righteous. —Isaac Bashevis Singer, Harpers Magazine, 26 Mar. 2025

Foer’s novel, and its 2005 film adaptation, is about the Jewish author’s journey to Ukraine in search of the woman who saved his grandfather’s life during the Nazi liquidation of the family shtetl. —Andrew Silow-Carroll, Sun Sentinel, 30 Jan. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Yiddish shtetl, from Middle High German stetel, diminutive of stat place, town, city, from Old High German, place — more at stead entry 1

First Known Use

1949, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for shtetl

• cuttle
• scuttle
• shuttle
• subtle
• suttle
• rebuttal