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хохма. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
хохма, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
хохма in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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Russian
Etymology
Borrowed from Yiddish חכמה (khokhme, “wit”), from Hebrew חוכמה (khokhmá, “wisdom”). A well-known folk etymology relates the noun to хохотать (xoxotatʹ, “to laugh”).
Seems to originate from Odessan dialect, and from there spread around during the 20th century.
Pronunciation
Noun
хо́хма • (xóxma) f inan (genitive хо́хмы, nominative plural хо́хмы, genitive plural хохм)
- (colloquial) joke, anecdote (funny or amusing story)
1901 March 27, Korney Chukovsky, Diary notes:Читал вчерашнюю газету. Хохотал как безумный. Под некоторыми сообщениями так и хочется видеть подпись: Щедрин. Вот, например, письмо митрополита Антония к графине Толстой. Ну чем не щедринская хохма: «Есть слава человеческая и есть слава Божья»- Čital včerašnjuju gazetu. Xoxotal kak bezumnyj. Pod nekotorymi soobščenijami tak i xočetsja videtʹ podpisʹ: Ščedrin. Vot, naprimer, pisʹmo mitropolita Antonija k grafine Tolstoj. Nu čem ne ščedrinskaja xoxma: «Jestʹ slava čelovečeskaja i jestʹ slava Božʹja»
- I read yesterday's newspaper. Laughed like crazy. Under some messages you just wish to see the signature: Shchedrin. For example, the letter by Metropolitan Anthony to Countess Tolstoy. How is it not an anecdote by Shchedrin: “There is the glory of man and there is the glory of God.”
1941 August 29, Sergey Bondarin, Diary notes:К моему удивлению, и у меня взяли кое-что «смешное», и так странно было слышать эту передачу из Москвы, эти слова и хохмы, придуманные здесь, в нашей маленькой редакции.- K mojemu udivleniju, i u menja vzjali koje-što «smešnoje», i tak stranno bylo slyšatʹ etu peredaču iz Moskvy, eti slova i xoxmy, pridumannyje zdesʹ, v našej malenʹkoj redakcii.
- To my surprise, they took something “funny” from me, too, and it was so strange to hear this broadcast from Moscow, these words and anecdotes invented here in our small editorial office.
1967, Boris Bondarenko, Цена первой ошибки [The cost of the first mistake], page 71:Вот хохма — не работают!- Vot xoxma — ne rabotajut!
- What a joke — they aren't working!
- (colloquial) joke (something said or done for amusement and not in seriousness)
Declension
Derived terms
Descendants