Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Yiddish ·1850s
Kosher
from kosher
- Meaning
- Conforming to Jewish dietary law; figuratively, legitimate.
- Source word
- kosher
- Route into English
- Hebrew *kāshēr* (fit, proper) → Yiddish *kosher* → American English. The figurative sense ("it's not kosher") is an American development from the 1920s.
- Arrived
- 1850s
From Yiddish
Mass migration from Ashkenazi Eastern Europe to New York (1880–1920) funnelled Yiddish into American English, from where it diffused globally.
English borrows.
Browse the full loanword atlas or explore another source language.