bind verb, participle gebundn, bind; commit oneself (with "zikh")
- oysgebundn adverb, in friendship (with "mit"); know thoroughly (with "kenen")
- tsugebundnkayt noun, plural in -n, gender f, close friendship
bruder plural brider, gender m, brother adjectival form with -ish, adjectival form with -lekh
- farbridert adjective, fraternized
- - farbriderung noun, plural in -n, gender f, friendship; fraternization
- gut-bruder plural gute-brider, gender m, friend, comrade adjectival form with -ish
- brider verb, participle ge...t, be friendly (with "zikh mit") source: Bashevis
fraynd plural same as singular, gender m, friend
- frayndlekh gradable adjective, friendly
- - frayndlekhkayt noun, plural in -n, gender f, friendliness
- bafraynd verb, participle bafrayndt, befriend (usually with "zikh mit")
- u'mfray'ndlekh adjective, unfriendly
- frayndin noun, plural in -s, gender f, frayndine noun, plural in -s, gender f, girlfriend
- frayndshaft noun, plural in -n, gender f, adjectival form with -lekh, gutfrayndshaft noun, plural in -n, gender f, friendship
- - shlisn frayndshaft make friends
- bafrayndet adjective, befriend
- buzemfraynd plural same as singular, gender m, close friend, bosom buddy
- hartsfraynd gender m, close friend
- me'ntshnfraynd plural same as singular, gender m, humanitarian
- yidnfraynd plural same as singular, gender m, philosemite
- yugntfraynd gender m, friend of one's youth
- ga'stfrayndlekh adjective, hospitable um'ga'stfrayndlekh adjective, inhospitable
- - gastfrayndlekhkayt noun, plural in -n, gender f, hospitality
- frayndl verb, participle ge...t, be friendly (with "zikh")
fraynt plural same as singular, gender m, relative adjectival form with -lekh, friendly diminutive with root fraynd
harts noun, plural in -n, plural hertser, gender n, heart (anatomy); heart ♥ (playing cards); breast; white shirt-front (male clothing)
- adjectival form with -ik, delightful; friendly adjectival form with -edik, adjectival form with -lekh, hearty; cordial
- libhartsik adjective, amiable libhartsikayt noun, plural in -n, gender f, amiability, friendliness
kale(כּלה) plural kales(כּלות), gender f, bride; engaged woman; girlfriend
- khosn_kale(חתן-כּלה) engaged couple
- ka'levayz(כּלהװײַז) adverb, as a bride
- kale(כּלה) verb, participle ge...t, dress as if younger than one is (with "zikh")
- vern khosn_kale(חתן-כּלה) become engaged (couple)
- zayn khosn_kale(חתן-כּלה) be engaged (couple)
kavali'r noun, plural in -n, gender m, kavalye'r noun, plural in -n, cavalier; young man; boyfriend
- kavalerye noun, plural in -s, gender f, cavalry
- kavaleri'st noun, plural in -n, gender m, cavalryman
khaver(חבֿר) plural khaveyrem(חבֿרים), gender m, friend, comrade (male); boyfriend
- adjectival form with -ish, comradely
- khaverte(חבֿרטע) noun, plural in -s, gender f, kha'vertorin(חבֿרטאָרין) noun, plural in -s, gender f, girlfriend; comrade (female)
- khevre(חבֿרה) plural khevres(חבֿרות), gender f, khevraye_(חבֿרײא) plural khevrayes(חבֿרײות), khevraye(חבֿריה) gender f, gang
- - khevretshke(חבֿרהטשקע) noun, plural in -s, gender f, khevretske(חבֿרהצקע) noun, plural in -s, gender f, group (humorous)
  - khe'vre-man(חבֿרהמאַן) gender m, one of the gang; playboy; pimp (ganovem-loshn)
  - - khevre-mante(חבֿרהמאַנטע) noun, plural in -s, gender f, source: Forwards: M-S Hoffman
  - khe'vrenik(חבֿרהניק) noun, plural in -es
  - oyto-khevre(אױטאָ-חבֿרה) noun, plural in -s, car pool source: "vi zogt men af yidish"
  - vayse khevre(חבֿרה) kheyder-youngsters
  - khevre(חבֿרה)-drikung noun, plural in -n, gender f, khevre(חבֿרה)-druk noun, plural in -n, gender f, peer pressure source: "vi zogt men af yidish"
  - khe'vreshaft(חבֿרהשאַפֿט) noun, plural in -n, gender f, friendship source: Forwards: Yoel Matveyev
- khaverishkayt(חבֿרישקײט) noun, plural in -n, gender f, khavershaft(חבֿרשאַפֿט) noun, plural in -n, gender f, friendship
- khaver(חבֿר) verb, participle ge...t, befriend adverbial complement tsunoyf
- - farkhaverung(פֿאַרחבֿרונג) noun, plural in -n, gender f, becoming friendly
- khiber(חיבור) plural khiburem(חיבורים), gender m, connection; book, treatise; (mathematics) addition
- - shvarts-khiber(שװאַרץ-חיבור) gender m, completed treatise source: Bashevis
  - mekhaber(מחבר) plural mekhabrem(מחברים), gender m, mekha'berte(מחברטע) noun, plural in -s, gender f, mekha'berin(מחברין) noun, plural in -s, gender f, author
  - - mekhabershaft(מחברשאַפֿט) noun, plural in -n, gender f, authorship source: Berish Goldstein
- khevruse(חבֿרותא) study partnership; group of people
- - bekhevruse(בחבֿרותא) adverb, in a group
knop plural knep, gender m, diminutive with root knep, button; adams-apple (anatomy); friend; police badge or officer
- knopke noun, plural in -s, gender f, press stud (clothing fastner); thumbtack
- knepl-shebeknepl(שבקנעפּל) closely allied; good buddies
- farkenpl verb, participle farkneplt, button
- gorglknop plural gorglknep, gender m, Adam's apple (anatomy)
- tsugekneplt adjective, reserved, indrawn
korev(קרובֿ) plural kroyvem(קרובֿים), gender m, relative (male)
- mekarev(מקרבֿ) verb, befriend (with "zayn")
- mekurev(מקורבֿ) plural mekurovem(מקורבֿים), gender m, friend
kvater noun, plural in -s, gender m, kva'terin noun, plural in -s, kva'tershe noun, plural in -s, gender f, friend at a Jewish circumcision who brings in the infant
mesibe(מסיבה) plural mesibes(מסיבות), gender f, society; group of friends
shmelke noun, plural in -s, gender m, best friend (with "gants" or "noenter")
simpatye noun, plural in -s, gender f, sympathy
- simpatish adjective, genial; friendly
- - umsimpatish adjective, unfriendly, hostile
tsvey noun, plural in -n, d, 2
- vi andere tsvey very close friends

This dictionary

This dictionary is the result of years of work as I have collected words, mostly from Yiddish literature. My original purpose was to automate spell-checking; it quickly became a source of definitions and occasionally etymology. All the work (and all the errors) are my own. If you find a mistake, please mail me. You can refer to this dictionary simply as "Refoyl's Online Yiddish Dictionary".

Related software

You might prefer to use the gloss displayer, which lets you enter an entire text (in Yiddish letters) and see definitions of all the words at one go, or the Yiddish spellchecker.

Searchable strings

You can search for information by Yiddish word (in YIVO transcription or in Yiddish letters), English translation, Hebrew spelling of a loshn-koydesh word, and for some grammatical and usage markers.

Yiddish words in Yiddish letters

You may use ligatures or not, and if you leave out nekudes, the program will try to fill them in. Use only the stem of the word (not the plural, case-marked, or conjugated form) of nouns, adjectives, and verbs. Examples: type פּלימעניק, not פּלימעניקעס; type שײן, not שײנע, and העלף, not העלפֿן or אונטערגעהאָלפֿן.

Yiddish words in YIVO transcription

Write Yiddish words in YIVO transcription. Use the stem of the word (not the plural, case-marked, or conjugated form) of nouns, adjectives, and verbs. Examples: say plimenik, not plimenikes, sheyn, not sheyne, helf, not helfn or untergeholfn.

YIVO transcription form uses the following consonants:

b g d h v z kh t y l m n s f p ts k r sh tsh zh dzh

and the following vowels:

a e i o u oy ay ey

The following sentence is correctly transliterated.

ikh bin gekumen azoy vayt tsu shraybn a bisl mame-loshn!

Do not use German phonetic spelling. For instance, don't write schpiel to mean shpil.

Loshn-koydesh derived words

Use capital letters for the first letters of Hebrew proper names (like Refoyl and Binyomen). Don't use capital letters for any other Yiddish words.

If you need a loshn-koydesh derived word, first spell it phonetically. Unaccented vowels often should be spelled with an e, as in borekh, bimkem, and maskem.

If you don't know or can't guess the pronunciation, you may use the following letters to spell out loshn-koydesh.

aleph	א	#
veys	בֿ	B
vov	ו	w
khes	ח	H
yud	י	y
kof	כּ	K
khof	כ	x
ayin	ע	e
tsadi	צ	c
shin	ש	S
sin	שׂ	Q
sof	ת	T
tof	תּ	W

Don't distinguish final khof, mem, nun, fe, tsadi.

Examples: type msKym for מסכּים, Slwm for שלום.

In my data file, I surround all loshn-koydesh with {braces}, so you can use them, too. For instance, ym} searches for all loshn-koydesh words ending in yud-mem (ים).

Searching by other information

I record a few categories along with definitions. So type clothing or sound and you will get lists of clothing words and sound words. I also note a few grammatical items (try indeclinable) and usage (try inadmissable or German).

On occasion I indicate where I saw a word, especially if I don't see the same word in standard dictionaries; try Forwards, Hoffman, Bergelson, note: V.

Nonstandard spellings

I have used standard YIVO Romanization and orthography in this dictionary. If you are trying to find a word that uses other schemes (see the Wikipedia article for some insight), consider making these adjustments.

Don't use the prefix be-; use ba-.
Don't use the prefix er-; use der-.
Don't use the inseparable verb prefix tsu-; use tse-.
Don't place an h after a vowel to lengthen it; write ey instead of eh, for instance.
If the text doesn't distinguish a tsvey-yudn (ײ) from pasekh-tsvey-yudn (ײַ), try both ay and ey.
Similarly, if the text doesn't distinguish pe (פּ) from fe (פֿ), try both p and f.
If the text has a word starting with alef-yud (such as אינגל), also search for it with yi, as in yingl.
If the text has a word ending in -ig, try -ik.
The epenthetic ayin before a nun en (ענ) is sometimes absent in modern spelling, leaving just the nun.
If the text has a double consonant, such as tt, search with a single consonant, such as t.
If the text has an alef with a segol (אֶ), try e.
Transliterate the khes (ח) as kh. Some books use the khes where standard orthography uses the khof (כ).
If your text has a final khof with a dagesh (ךּ), just ignore the dagesh and use kh.