English takes on new words all the time. We've been borrowing liberally from other language — French, Greek, and German to mention just a few — for centuries. More recently, in the last hundred years, we've added many Yiddish words in our melting pot.
What follows is a list of some of the more well-known words of Yiddish origin to have entered English. It should be noted that these are not direct English translations of Yiddish words; they are words from Yiddish that have been sufficiently naturalized in our language to be included in an English language dictionary.
Definition:
: the least amount; also : nothing
About the Word:
The Yiddish word bubkes (also spelled in both English and Yiddish as bupkes or bubkus) is thought to be short for the colorful kozebubkes, which means 'goat droppings' — something you may want to consider the next time you find yourself saying 'I've got bubkes.'
Example:
"And I got bubkes for alimony and child support. Nice." — Olivia Goldsmith, The First Wives Club, 2008
— Ammon Shea
