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Mr. Tom Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

Strange word Chutzpah

Hi

Isn't it a rather strange word? Chutzpah. And I suppose it's pronunciation is altogether different?

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Chutzpah&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2CChutzpah%3B%2Cc0

How often do you use/hear it used?

Thanks,

Tom
  

Top answer

Mr. Tom Isn't it a rather strange word? Chutzpah.

— GPY

  • Mr.
  • Tom Isn't it a rather strange word?
  • Chutzpah.
  • And I suppose it's pronunciation is altogether different?
  • In my experience, most English speakers pronounce the "ch" as "h".
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4 Answers
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Mr. TomIsn't it a rather strange word? Chutzpah. And I suppose it's pronunciation is altogether different?
In my experience, most English speakers pronounce the "ch" as "h".
Mr. Tomhttps:
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Mr. TomIsn't it a rather strange word? Chutzpah.
It's Yiddish, not English. You will hear it a lot in New York's Jewish neighborhoods.
I like the word and do use it when the occasion arises.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chutzpah
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AlpheccaStarsIt's Yiddish, not English.
Yiddish by origin, but I think it is reasonable to call it an English word now.
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GPY I think it is reasonable to call it an English word now.
The reason that it does not sound or seem English (the poster's question) is because it is adopted from Hebrew / Yiddish. Hebrew is a Semitic language, unrelated to either the Germanic or Romance languages that English is derived from. English has many adopted words from many other tongues.
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