Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Yiddish ·1960s
Tchotchke
from tshatshke
- Meaning
- A small decorative trinket; knick-knack.
- Source word
- tshatshke
- Route into English
- Yiddish *tshatshke* (probably from a Slavic source) → American English. Notorious for its spelling — the *tch-* at the start is an attempt to render the Yiddish affricate, and speakers disagree on standard spellings.
- Arrived
- 1960s
From Yiddish
Mass migration from Ashkenazi Eastern Europe to New York (1880–1920) funnelled Yiddish into American English, from where it diffused globally.
English borrows.
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