tchotchke
Americannoun
Usage
What does tchotchke mean? A tchotchke is a small, cheap, ornamental trinket or souvenir; a knickknack.Tchotchke is taken from Yiddish, a dialect of German based on Hebrew. It has several English spellings, including chotchke, tchachke, and chachki. In Yiddish, it is also sometimes used as a term for a young girl or pretty woman.Example: My mother can’t go on vacation without coming back with a few tchotchkes.
Etymology
Origin of tchotchke
First recorded in 1965–70, from Yiddish tshatshke, from Polish czaczko “bibelot, knickknack” (now obsolete; compare modern cacko with same sense, originally dialect); of expressive origin
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Electronic tchotchkes are ubiquitous but many people have little or no access to nutritious food or health care as our environment is run through a meat grinder and set on fire.
From Salon
The setting: a two-story home in Whittier prettied with holiday decorations, pet beds, American flags and a shelf of tchotchkes dedicated to John Wayne.
From Los Angeles Times
For Li, the key to getting the less-coveted stuff out of his living room was strategic bundling—pairing smaller tchotchkes with big-ticket items that drew in competitive buyers.
Executives monitored sporadic complaints online over menu changes and renovated locations with fewer wall-hanging tchotchkes.
The North Hollywood house, which songwriter Allee Willis first purchased in 1980 and turned into a living ode to all things kitsch, is awash in trinkets and tchotchkes.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
