balabotish

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Pronunciations

balabotish (BAH-luh-BUH-tish) listen

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Definitions

  • adj. "Quiet; respectable; well mannered" (Rosten). "middle class"; normal.

Example Sentences

  • "...it wasn't super fancy, just a nice, balabatish wedding."

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Languages of Origin

  • Yiddish

Etymology

  • בעל־הבתּיש bal(e)batish

      • Who Uses This

      • Orthodox: Jews who identify as Orthodox and observe halacha (Jewish law)

      Regions

      • North America
      • Great Britain
      • South Africa

      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).
      • Frumspeak: The First Dictionary of Yeshivish, by Chaim Weiser (Northvale, 1995).

      Alternative Spellings

      balebatish, balabatish

Notes

  • This word is used by members of diverse ultra-Orthodox communities which include Litvaks, Chasidim, and others to describe the average member of the community, who is not particularly ideological but rather "normal".

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