spiel

Alternative Spellings

shpil, shpiel

Definitions

• play, performance, speech. "A long, involved story or tale." (JPS)

Example Sentences

• "She gave a whole shpiel about why we should donate money to the shul."

Languages of Origin

Yiddish

Etymology

שפּיל shpil

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

Dictionaries

The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001).