maven

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Pronunciations

maven (MAY-vin) listen

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Definitions

  • n. An expert, connoisseur, specialist.

Example Sentences

  • "She's a maven of the history of the synagogue."

  • "They think they're a maven in medicine because they live next door to a doctor."

  • "'I’m a maven, as my family used to say,' she said. (She also describes herself as a nice Jewish girl from Long Island: Lawrence High School, class of 1983.)" (source)

  • “Don’t buy it until you get the advice of a maven." (NJY)

  • "If you want to know the best buy in amplifiers, ask my brother-in-law—he's a real meyven." (Glinert)

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Languages of Origin

  • Textual Hebrew
  • Yiddish

Etymology

  • Y מבֿין meyvn from TH מֵבִין mevín, lit. 'one who knows'

      • 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
      • Great Britain
      • South Africa

      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).
      • Dictionary of Jewish Usage: A Popular Guide to the Use of Jewish Terms, by Sol Steinmetz (Lanham, MD, 2005).
      • The Joys of Hebrew, by Lewis Glinert (New York, 1992).
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      Alternative Spellings

      meyvn, mayvin, meyvin, meyven, mayven, meiven, meivn

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