mazel tov

Pronunciations

mazal tov (MAH-zil TAHV) listen
mazel tov (MAH-zil TAHF) listen
mazal tov (mah-ZAHL TOHV) listen

Definitions

  • interj. Congratulations [lit. "good fortune"].

Example Sentences

  • An elderly congregant at my pulpit said to the bat miztvah "Mazel Tof, Zoe. What a great job you did."

Languages of Origin

  • Textual Hebrew
  • Yiddish
  • Modern Hebrew

Etymology

  • Heb מזל טוב mazál tov, Yiddish מזל־טובֿ mázltov

    • 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
      • Australia / New Zealand

      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).
      • The Joys of Hebrew, by Lewis Glinert (New York, 1992).
      • 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).

      Alternative Spellings

      mazl tov, mazal tof, mazal tov, mazel tov, mazol tov, mazeltof, mazeltov, mazel toff

Edit     Something missing from this entry? Inaccurate? Feel free to suggest an edit.