Utter nerve; effrontery: "has the chutzpah to claim a lock on God and morality" (New York Times).
[Yiddish khutspe, from Mishnaic Hebrew ḥuṣpâ, from ḥāṣap, to be insolent.]
Dictionary:
chutz·pah hutz·pah (KHʊt'spə, hʊt'-) ![]() |
[Yiddish khutspe, from Mishnaic Hebrew ḥuṣpâ, from ḥāṣap, to be insolent.]
| Wordsmith Words: chutzpah |
(KHOOT-spuh, HOOT-)
noun, also chutzpa
Shameless impudence, brazen nerve, gall, effrontery.
Etymology
From Yiddish khutspe, from Late Hebrew huspa.
| Word Overheard: chutzpah |
Like all Yiddish words that have entered the English lexicon, chutzpah is difficult to translate yet wonderfully useful. In this case, Hillary and Bill Clinton were accused of having chutzpah (nerve, audacity) after they criticized President Bush for commuting Scooter Libby's prison sentence.
"'I don't know what Arkansan is for chutzpah but this is a gigantic case of it,' presidential spokesman Tony Snow said.... Bill Clinton is from the state of Arkansas. Chutzpah is the Yiddish word for brashness.... In the closing hours of his presidency, Clinton pardoned 140 people, including fugitive financier Marc Rich."
Posted July 9, 2007.
See our Word Overheard blog to see interesting uses of strange words.
| Business Dictionary: Chutzpah |
Unmitigated gall, generally unacceptable brazen behavior. In some types of business, it is regarded as an asset: a positive quality of heroic audacity or guts.
| Thesaurus: chutzpah |
noun
| Wikipedia: Chutzpah |
| Look up chutzpah in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
Chutzpah (pronounced /ˈxʊtspə/) is the quality of audacity, for good or for bad. The word derives from the Hebrew word ḥuṣpâ (חֻצְפָּה), meaning "insolence", "audacity", and "impertinence." The modern English usage of the word has taken on a wider spectrum of meaning, however, having been popularized through vernacular use, film, literature, and television.
In Hebrew, chutzpah is used indignantly, to describe someone who has over-stepped the boundaries of accepted behavior with no shame. But in Yiddish and English, chutzpah has developed ambivalent and even positive connotations. Chutzpah can be used to express admiration for non-conformist but gutsy audacity. Leo Rosten in The Joys of Yiddish defines chutzpah as "gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, incredible 'guts,' presumption plus arrogance such as no other word and no other language can do justice to." In this sense, chutzpah expresses both strong disapproval and a grudging admiration.
The word has also entered Polish, German and Dutch from Yiddish and is written as "hucpa" in Polish, "Chuzpe" in German and "gotspe" in Dutch. It likewise means arrogance, audacity and shamelessness.
Related terms in Hebrew are khatsuf (חצוף) and khatsufah (חצופֿה), which means an "impudent man" and an "impudent woman", respectively.
Judge Alex Kozinski and Eugene Volokh in an article entitled Lawsuit Shmawsuit, note the rise in use of Yiddish words in legal opinion. They note that chutzpah has been used 231 times in legal opinions, with all but eleven of those after 1980.[1]
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
| Translations: Chutzpah |
Dansk (Danish)
n. - frejdighed grænsende til frækhed
Français (French)
n. - toupet, culot
Deutsch (German)
n. - (ugs.) Chuzpe, Frechheit
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ξεδιαντροπιά, αυθάδεια
Italiano (Italian)
faccia tosta, sfacciataggine, impudenza
Português (Portuguese)
n. - bravura (f) (gír.)
Español (Spanish)
n. - caradura
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - fräckhet
中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
厚脸皮, 放肆无礼
中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 厚臉皮, 放肆無禮
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) جرأة
If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.
To select your translation preferences click here.
| Storm [Limited Edition Bonus CD-ROM] (1999 Album by Vanessa Mae) | |
| Looking for Trouble (Album by Bad Street Boys) | |
| Chutzpah: Touched by an Angel (TV Episode) (2001 TV Episode) |
Copyrights:
![]() | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Wordsmith Words. © 2009 Wordsmith.org. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Word Overheard. © 1999-2009 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Business Dictionary. Dictionary of Business Terms. Copyright © 2000 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Chutzpah". Read more | |
![]() | Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. Read more |
Mentioned in