chutzpah

Etymology

It is borrowed from Yiddish חוצפּה (khutspe, “impudence, gall”),^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} which the OED and the Oxford Dictionary of English derive from Aramaic חוּצְפָּא (ḥuṣpā, “impudence, insolence”),^[4][7][8][1] from חֲצַף (ḥăṣap̄, “to be insolent”).^[4][1] The OED adds that the Aramaic noun passed into post-biblical Hebrew about 600,^[4] and Etymonline, Barnhart, Merriam-Webster and the American Heritage Dictionary give Hebrew as the source of the Yiddish word;^[2][3][5][6] Wiktionary leaves open whether it came through Medieval Hebrew or directly from Aramaic.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

An impudent act, an affront: 1853, on a poster reproduced in Ausubel's Pictorial History of the Jewish People; this sense is now rare.^[4] Merriam-Webster's first date is 1883,^[5] when the American Hebrew called it a word “most expressive for the idea that it seeks to convey”.^[9] Barnhart and Etymonline date it to 1892, in the spelling chutzbah, in Israel Zangwill's Children of the Ghetto.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The general sense, brazen impudence or gall, is recorded from 1886 in the OED,^[4] and the same year the London Sporting Times asked “How's this for chutzpa?”.^[9] Early writers presented it as a specifically Jewish quality: in 1908 the Manchester Courier said it conveys a frame of mind “that only a Jew can exhibit”.^[9] Later it was glossed more broadly as nerve or courage, as in 1922, “nerve with a kick”,^[9] and the OED and Merriam-Webster now include brash or supreme self-confidence.^[4][5] Green's Dictionary of Slang also records an adjective use, “cheeky”, from 1899.^[9]

Timeline

• 1853 – an impudent act, an affront (now rare).^[4]
• 1883 – audacity, gall, in the American Hebrew.^[9][5] The OED's first record of this sense is from 1886.^[4]
• 1892 – the spelling chutzbah, in Zangwill.^[3][2]
• 1899 – adjective, cheeky.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Shameless audacity or impudence; nerve, gall: He had the chutzpah to ask his landlord for a loan.^{[10][5][6][4]}
2. Brash or supreme self-confidence.^[5][4]

Usage notes

The word is also spelled chutzpa, hutzpah and hutzpa;^[5][6][10] it is pronounced with an initial /h/ or /x/.^[4] Etymonline quotes Leo Rosten's classic definition: “that quality enshrined in a man who, having killed his mother and father, throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan.”^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins