gefilte fish

Pronunciations

gefilte fish

(geh-FIHL-tuh FISH)

Definitions

• n. Minced sweet or sour fish, cooked in balls or a log and sliced. [lit., "stuffed fish"(JPS), since the chopped fish used to be placed back in the fish for cooking.]
  

Example Sentences

• "Should we have salmon or gefilte fish Friday night?"
  

Languages of Origin

• Yiddish

Etymology

• געפֿילטע פֿיש gefilte fish 'stuffed/filled fish'
  

Who Uses This

• Jews: Jews of diverse religious backgrounds and organizational involvements
• Non-Jews: (words that have spread outside of Jewish networks)

Regions

• North America

Dictionaries

• The New Joys of Yiddish, by Leo Rosten and Lawrence Bush (New York, 2003[1968]).
• The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001).

Alternative Spellings

gefilta fish