yotzei

Alternative Spellings

yotsei, yotse, yoitzei, yoytse, yotze, yoitzeh, yoitze

Definitions

• released from a religious obligation by dint of completion or fulfillment; "to have done what's required" (Glinert)
• (with the helping verb "to be," and an object where required) to fulfill, as a mitzvah or some figurative obligation

Example Sentences

• Are you yotzei?
• "If I had to go out in the middle of the shofar blowing -- am I yotse?" (Glinert)

Languages of Origin

Textual Hebrew, Yiddish

Etymology

Yiddish יוצא זײַן yoytse zayn, a periphrastic verb ("yoytse" + to be), Hebrew verb יוצא yotsé (Ashkenazi Hebrew: yóytse) 'leaves, emerges from'

Who Uses This

Orthodox: Jews who identify as Orthodox and observe halacha (Jewish law)

Dictionaries

Yiddish and English: A Century of Yiddish in America, by Sol Steinmetz (Tuscaloosa, 1986).
The Joys of Hebrew, by Lewis Glinert (New York, 1992).
Frumspeak: The First Dictionary of Yeshivish, by Chaim Weiser (Northvale, 1995).