Kelly_R_Smith
on March 16, 2021
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Word of the day: Haimish. [ hey-mish ]
adjective
homey; cozy and unpretentious.
The Yiddish adjective haimish (also spelled heimish) means “cozy, comfortable, unpretentious,” pretty much the same as English homey. Heimish comes from the Middle High German adjective heimisch (German heimisch), a compound of the Middle High German noun heim “home,” from Proto-Germanic haimaz, the same source as Old English hām (English home). The adjective suffix –ish comes from Proto-Germanic –iska-, source of English –ish. The Proto-Germanic suffix is related to the Greek suffix –iskos, used to form diminutive nouns such as neanískos “youth,” a diminutive of neanías “young man.” Heimish entered English in the mid-1950s.
Example: "It’s irresistibly haimish, with exposed-brick walls and, behind the oak-and-tile bar, an eighteenth-century map of Rome. Everybody knows everybody, by sight or by name—diners, waiters, staff."
Sarah Larson, "A Neighborhood Restaurant's Last Night, For Now," The New Yorker, March 30, 2020
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