Yiddish

noun

Yid·​dish ˈyi-dish 

: a High German language written in Hebrew characters that is spoken by Jews and descendants of Jews of central and eastern European origin

Yiddish adjective

Examples of Yiddish in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

English, for example, belongs to the Germanic group, which also includes German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Afrikaans, Icelandic, Scots, Yiddish, and a few others. —Martha Barnette august 6, Literary Hub, 6 Aug. 2025

Leftists like her also see Yiddish itself as an ideological mainstay of Jewish movements that opposed Zionism, even as Israel embraced modern Hebrew. —Andrew Silow-Carroll, Sun Sentinel, 5 Aug. 2025

Chaim Grade became a writer in Lithuania but wrote his best novels in the Bronx after the Holocaust, recording in Yiddish the conflict between Jewish tradition and secular thinking that had characterized a whole world swept away. —Daphne Merkin, The New York Review of Books, 31 July 2025

For example, Chris notes, Jerry’s first language was Yiddish, a consequence of having been raised almost exclusively by his grandmother, Sara Rothberg. —Larry Luxner, Sun Sentinel, 23 July 2025

Word History

Etymology

Yiddish yidish, short for yidish daytsh, literally, Jewish German, from Middle High German jüdisch diutsch, from jüdisch Jewish (from Jude Jew) + diutsch German

First Known Use

1871, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

Yiddish

noun

Yid·​dish ˈyid-ish 

: a language that began among the Jews of eastern Europe and is based on German and written in the Hebrew alphabet

Yiddish adjective

Etymology

from Yiddish yidish, a shortened form of yidish daytsh, literally "Jewish German (language)," derived from early German jüdisch "Jewish" and diutsch "the German language"