frum

Alternative Spellings

frim

Definitions

• religious; observant; Orthodox

Example Sentences

• "First I went to college, then I spent some time in Israel, where I became frum. Now I daven with the Orthodox and eat kosher meat only, which is really expensive." (student)

Languages of Origin

Yiddish

Etymology

פֿרום frum

Who Uses This

Religious: Jews who are engaged in religious observance and have some Jewish education

Regions

North America

Dictionaries

The New Joys of Yiddish, by Leo Rosten and Lawrence Bush (New York, 2003[1968]).
Yiddish and English: A Century of Yiddish in America, by Sol Steinmetz (Tuscaloosa, 1986).
The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001).
Frumspeak: The First Dictionary of Yeshivish, by Chaim Weiser (Northvale, 1995).
Dictionary of Jewish Usage: A Popular Guide to the Use of Jewish Terms, by Sol Steinmetz (Lanham, MD, 2005).

Notes

The vowel generally has the sound of the "u" in "put." However, in some areas of Eastern Europe, the "u" vowel became a short "i", as in the English word "rim". ("Miter" for "muter" 'mother' and "piter" for "puter" 'butter' are other examples.)