gefilte fish

Alternative Spellings

gefilta fish

Definitions

• 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).

Notes

This is a mix of several types of fish.