mamzer
Pronunciations
mamzer | (MAHM-zer) | listen |
Definitions
n. A bastard according to Jewish law.
n. A detestable, untrustworthy person.
Example Sentences
"It's shocking that there is a mamzer status in the Israeli legal system."
"Rosie, my lovely wife, I’m sorry I been such a mamzer." (source)
“He may swindle you, that mamzer.” (NJY)
Languages of Origin
- Textual Hebrew
- Yiddish
Etymology
Heb ממזר mamzér, Yiddish mámzer
- Religious: Jews who are engaged in religious observance and have some Jewish education
- Older: Jews who are middle-aged and older
- North America
- Great Britain
- South Africa
- Australia / New Zealand
- 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).
- The Joys of Hebrew, by Lewis Glinert (New York, 1992).
- Dictionary of Jewish Usage: A Popular Guide to the Use of Jewish Terms, by Sol Steinmetz (Lanham, MD, 2005).
- View More
Who Uses This
Regions
Dictionaries
Alternative Spellings
momzer, mamzor
Notes
According to Jewish law, a mamzer is not one whose parents aren't married but someone whose two parents were married to other people at the time of his birth.
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