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A tchotchke ( , ) is a small bric-à-brac or miscellaneous item. The word has long been used by Jewish-Americans and in the regional speech of New York City and elsewhere. It is borrowed from Yiddish and is ultimately Slavic in origin.
The word may also refer to free promotional items dispensed at trade shows, conventions, and similar commercial events. They can also be sold as cheap souvenirs in tourist areas, which are sometimes called "tchotchke shops".
''Short Dictionary of Slovak Language''
Veda, 2003. (meaning: cheap decorative thing, trinket) ; be, цацка ; russian: цацки, tsatski ), adapted to
Tchotchke (n.)
on ''Online Etymology Dictionary''
on ''World Wide Words'' Yiddish words and phrases Slang terms for women Memorabilia
A tchotchke ( , ) is a small bric-à-brac or miscellaneous item. The word has long been used by Jewish-Americans and in the regional speech of New York City and elsewhere. It is borrowed from Yiddish and is ultimately Slavic in origin.
The word may also refer to free promotional items dispensed at trade shows, conventions, and similar commercial events. They can also be sold as cheap souvenirs in tourist areas, which are sometimes called "tchotchke shops".
Spelling
A wide variety of spellings exist for the English usage of the term, e.g., ''tshotshke'', ''tshatshke'', ''tchachke'', ''tchotchka'', ''tchatchka'', ''chachke'', ''tsotchke'', ''chotski'', or ''chochke''; the standardYiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
transliteration is ''tsatske'' or ''tshatshke''. In YIVO standard orthography, it is spelled טשאַטשקע. In Israeli Hebrew it is often spelled , , with a tsade instead of teth-shin
Shin may refer to:
Biology
* The front part of the human leg below the knee
* Shinbone, the tibia, the larger of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates
Names
* Shin (given name) (Katakana: シン, Hiragana: しん), a Japanese ...
, as in Yiddish. A Hebrew variant is צ׳אצ׳קע, using צ ( tsade) with a geresh to represent the sound .
Alternative meanings and context
Depending on context, the term has a connotation of worthlessness or disposability as well as tackiness. A common confusion is between the terms ''tchotchke'' and ''tsatske'' or rather ''tsatskele'', with the diminutive ending -le. Both terms have the same Slavic root, but the tch- version stems from Russian, while the ts- originates in Polish. ''Tchotchke'' usually references trinkets, while ''tsatskele'' is more likely to mean a young girl or woman who uses her charms in order to reach her goals. Being Yiddish, the meaning can change by the use of gestures and a change in tone, so that ''tsatskele'' can become the favorite child. Leo Rosten, author of '' The Joys of Yiddish'', combines the two main meanings and gives an alternative sense of ''tchotchke'' as meaning a desirable young girl, a "pretty young thing". Less flatteringly, the term could be construed as a more dismissive synonym for " bimbo", or " slut".Etymology
The word ''tchotchke'' derives from a Slavic word for "trinket" ( uk, цяцька, tsjats'ka ; pl, cacko , plural ; sk, čačkaJ. Kačala et al.''Short Dictionary of Slovak Language''
Veda, 2003. (meaning: cheap decorative thing, trinket) ; be, цацка ; russian: цацки, tsatski ), adapted to
Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
singular .
See also
* Bric-a-brac * SouvenirReferences
External links
{{Wiktionary, tchotchkeTchotchke (n.)
on ''Online Etymology Dictionary''
on ''World Wide Words'' Yiddish words and phrases Slang terms for women Memorabilia