ghetto

1 of 3

noun

ghet·​to ˈge-(ˌ)tō 

plural ghettos also ghettoes

1

: a quarter of a city in which Jews were formerly required to live

2

: a quarter of a city in which members of a minority group live especially because of social, legal, or economic pressure

3

a

: an isolated group

a geriatric ghetto

b

: a situation that resembles a ghetto especially in conferring inferior status or limiting opportunity

the pink-collar ghetto

ghetto

2 of 3

adjective

often disparaging

: of, relating to, being, or characteristic of a ghetto (see ghetto entry 1 sense 2) or the people who live there

ghetto youth/music

ghetto neighborhoods

Features that, according to [El] Jones, are often shamed and seen as "ugly, ghetto, or unprofessional" when on Black people, but suddenly become desirable and attractive when on a white person.

—CBC Kids News

And lest anyone think graffiti itself is dead … the memorial walls are the latest outburst and refinement of ghetto art springing up in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and beyond.

—David Gonzalez

… the many social and cultural factors that went into the creation of a permanent class of ghetto poor, unable to move into the mainstream.

—Jonathan Alter

ghetto

3 of 3

verb

ghettoed; ghettoing; ghettos

transitive verb

: ghettoize

Did you know?

The etymology of Italian ghetto was formerly the subject of much speculation, but today there is little doubt that the word comes from the Italian dialect form ghèto, meaning “foundry.” A foundry for cannons was once located on an island that forms part of Venice, where in 1516 the Venetians restricted Jewish residence. The word ghèto became the name for the area and was borrowed into standard Italian as ghetto, with the meaning of “section of a city where Jews are forced to live.” From there it passed into most other European languages. Since the late 19th century, the meaning of ghetto has been extended to crowded urban districts where other ethnic or racial groups have been confined by poverty or prejudice.

Example Sentences

Noun

He grew up in the ghetto.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Three-year-old Daniel and 7-year-old Mira have been spirited out of a Jewish ghetto in Poland and consigned for safekeeping to a Polish farm couple. —Julia M. Klein, BostonGlobe.com, 23 Mar. 2023

Yaron was six months old when she and her mother were rescued from the last transport from the ghetto in the Baron Hirsch neighborhood to Auschwitz by Greek partisans and her father. —Etgar Lefkovits, Sun Sentinel, 23 Mar. 2023

Because Stanford’s charter forbade the sale of any of its some eighty-thousand acres in perpetuity, only professors and administrators could buy houses in the faculty ghetto—and only houses. —David Leavitt, The New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2023

After the German invasion on Sept. 1, 1939, they were forced into a ghetto that would house as many as 164,000 Jews. —Richard Sandomir, New York Times, 11 Feb. 2023

Professor Mancuso came across Ostiglio while researching an exhibition on the Jewish ghetto of Florence that will be hosted by the Uffizi late next year. —Elisabetta Povoledo, New York Times, 16 Nov. 2022

This is of the essence because personal genomics, and the scientific understanding of genealogy, are now moving out of the ghetto of hobbyists, enthusiasts, and researchers. —Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 4 Jan. 2013

Pimps who run what little economy exists in the ghetto. —Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 25 July 2013

Eva Galler was in her mid-teens, the oldest of eight children, when the Nazis rounded up the Jews in her Polish town, Oleszyce, set their synagogues alight, and forced them into a ghetto. —Globe Columnist, BostonGlobe.com, 24 Dec. 2022

See More

Word History

Etymology

Noun and Verb

Italian, from Venetian dialect ghèto island where Jews were forced to live, literally, foundry (located on the island), from ghetàr to cast, from Latin jactare to throw — more at jet

Adjective

from attributive of ghetto entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

1611, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

1892, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1936, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing ghetto

• ghetto blaster

• ghetto blaster

Kids Definition

ghetto

noun

ghet·​to

ˈget-ō

plural ghettos also ghettoes

1

: a part of a city in which Jews were formerly required to live

2

: a part of a city in which members of a minority group live especially because of social, legal, or economic pressure