tchotchke

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word tchotchke. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word tchotchke, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say tchotchke in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word tchotchke you have here. The definition of the word tchotchke will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition oftchotchke, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Yiddish טשאַטשקע (tshatshke, ornament; trinket; toy; (figurative) attractive girl or woman), from a Slavic language (compare Polish cacko (toy; knick-knack, trinket; pretty thing) (from caca (nice thing)) and czaczko ((obsolete) toy; trinket; pretty thing); Russian ца́цка (cácka, (informal) knick-knack, trinket; (dated) toy) (from ца́ца (cáca, toy; trinket; well-behaved child; nice person; conceited person)); and Ukrainian ца́цка (cácka, (dated) toy; ornament, trinket; conceited person; well-dressed person) (from ца́ца (cáca, toy; well-behaved child; conceited person; attractive woman))), probably ultimately imitative of a baby’s utterances.[1]

Pronunciation

Noun

tchotchke (plural tchotchkes) (originally and chiefly Canada, US, informal)

  1. A small ornament of minor value; a knick-knack, a trinket.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:trinket
    • 1957 September 18, “You’re often sorry later when you don’t—plan ahead ”, in Citizen-News, Valley edition, volume 53, number 147, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Calif.: Harlan G. Palmer, →OCLC, page 6C, columns 3–4:
      We're stuck with: 14 Provincial & Modern Kitchen chairs— [] 23 assorted Lamps and miscellaneous "Tchotchkes"! Help us unload.
  • 1974 July 12, Georgia Dullea, “Inflation-weary men turn to discount stores”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-04-06, page 31:
    The idea of a discount operation, of course, is that it shouldn't look like a boutique. Presumably the price tags are decoration enough. "Décor doesn't add to the glamour of a suit," an owner pointed out. "You're not buying the rugs or the lamps or the tsatskes."
  • 1998 April, Mark Rakatansky, “A/Partments”, in Assemblage, number 35, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, paragraph 45, page 58:
    I am a child of modernism – [] As such I have inherited a distrust of the tchotchke, which I have still – even as the house I was raised in of course had its share of (modernist) tchotchkes: the Asian art, the Danish designware, the Indian pottery, the MoMA catalogues.
  • 1999 August 8, Jesse McKinley, “The avant-garde: Follow that backpack”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2017-09-17, page 5.16:
    With limited cash and a thirst for uncommon sights, backpackers have pushed into challenging territory well before the big-money resorts or tchotchke merchants.
  • 2006, Jack Sullivan, “Psycho”, in Hitchcock’s Music, New Haven, Conn., London: Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 244:
    The awsome dissonance of Psycho works independently even as it instantly evokes Norman Bates's stabbing knife and Marion Crane's helpless scream. Once again [Alfred] Hitchcock overturned the convention that music must remain subliminally in the background of a film: [] in its quiet moments, it roams grimly wherever it pleases, investing the most banal images—a toy, a car on an empty highway, a suitcase on a bed, a tchotchke of folding hands—with dread.
  • (figurative, dated) Chiefly in Jewish contexts: an attractive girl or woman.
    Synonyms: bimbo; see also Thesaurus:beautiful woman
  • 1970, Stanley Ellin, chapter 19, in The Bind, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →OCLC, page 94:
    He looked Elinor over appraisingly as she seated herself on the banquette between him and Jake. "A real tsatskeh," he said with approval.
  • 1978, Leo [Calvin] Rosten, “The Glories of the Press”, in Passions & Prejudices: Or, Some of My Best Friends are People, New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Book Company, →ISBN, page 41:
    The Business Section of the admirable New York Times once published advertisements that showed a full-bosomed tchotchke in a very skimpy bra and panties leaning forward invitingly. The caption under this photograph read: / hi—i'm evelyn / and I'm Available / for / Trade Shows / Conventions / Business Meetings
  • Alternative forms

    Translations

    See also

    References

    1. ^ tchotchke, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023; tchotchke, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

    Further reading