bashert

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Pronunciations

bashert (buh-SHAIRT) listen

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Definitions

  • adj. Predestined, fated.

  • n. A predestined soul mate.

Example Sentences

  • "His meeting her so randomly was bashert."

  • "Is it possible that this guy was my bashert and I totally messed it up?" (source)

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Languages of Origin

  • Yiddish

Etymology

  • באַשערט bashert

      • Who Uses This

      • Religious: Jews who are engaged in religious observance and have some Jewish education
      • Older: Jews who are middle-aged and older
      • Ashkenazim: Jews with Ashkenazi heritage

      Regions

      • North America
      • Australia / New Zealand
      • Great Britain
      • South Africa

      Dictionaries

      • 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).
      • Yiddish and English: A Century of Yiddish in America, by Sol Steinmetz (Tuscaloosa, 1986).

      Alternative Spellings

      beshert

Notes

  • In Yiddish, bashert is an adjective that takes on endings according to the gender of the referent, e.g. מײַן באַשערטער mayn basherter 'my fated one (male)', מײַן באַשערטע mayn basherte 'my fated one (female)', and according to its function within a sentence (its case). Bashert without an ending is the form that has entered Jewish-English.

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