schvitz

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Pronunciations

schvitz (SHVITS) listen

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Definitions

  • v. To sweat.

  • n. Sweat.

  • n. A Turkish bath, steam bath.

Example Sentences

  • "There is no air conditioning, so on days when Wilshire Boulevard Temple is filled, Leder says, it is more like a schvitz, a steam bath, than a synagogue." (from an article in the LA Times)

  • "It was so hot in shul that everyone was shvitsing."

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Languages of Origin

  • Yiddish

Etymology

  • שװיצן shvitsn 'to sweat, perspire' (verbal stem is שװיץ shvits); שװיצבאָד shvitsbod 'steam bath, sauna'

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

      Dictionaries

      • 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).

      Alternative Spellings

      shvits, shvitz

Notes

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