חוצפה
khutz-PA
Audacity, nerve.
What does it literally mean — and what do Israelis actually mean?
What it literally means
Literal: insolence.
איזה חוצפה, לבקש הנחה אחרי שקנית!Eize chutzpa, levakesh hanacha acharei she-kanita!What nerve, asking for a discount after you already bought it!
What Israelis actually mean
Both negative ("what gall!") and grudgingly admiring ("you need chutzpa to ask for a raise on day one").
צריך חוצפה כדי להצליח בעסקים.Tzarich chutzpa kedei le-hatzliach ba'asakim.You need nerve to succeed in business.
Where did this word come from?
Ancient Hebrew/Aramaic, root ח.צ.ף. First attested in the Mishnah — Sotah 9:15: "in the footsteps of the Messiah, chutzpa will increase" — and Talmud Sanhedrin 105a: "chutzpa is effective even against Heaven" and "chutzpa is royalty without a crown." Passed into Yiddish (khutspe) and thence into English (19th–20th c.); modern Israeli Hebrew keeps it as everyday vocabulary.
Register & social context
Casual through literary. In Hebrew more often a complaint than American "chutzpah" (which skews admiring); the same ambivalence appears already in the Talmud.
Root & morphology
Root ח.צ.ף ("be insolent"). Adjective חצוף (chatzuf); verb החציף (hechetzif, hif'il, "acted brazenly").
Influences & contact languages
- Jewish Aramaic (Ancient Judeo-Aramaic)Mishnaic Hebrew/Aramaic attestations — Sotah 9:15 (Mishnah); Sanhedrin 105a (Bavli).
- Yiddish (ייִדיש)Yiddish khutspe carried the word into English and reinforced modern Hebrew use.
- English· contactEnglish "chutzpah" — a 19th–20th-century Yiddish export; skews admiring where Hebrew complains.
Associated places · modern location anchors
Which places are associated with this word?
2 places carry documented relationships to this word. These associations are unordered, so no traveled path is inferred.
Hear it in the wild
איזה חוצפה, לבקש הנחה אחרי שקנית!
Eize chutzpa, levakesh hanacha acharei she-kanita!
What nerve, asking for a discount after you already bought it!
צריך חוצפה כדי להצליח בעסקים.
Tzarich chutzpa kedei le-hatzliach ba'asakim.
You need nerve to succeed in business.
What English speakers get wrong
In American English "chutzpah" skews admiring ("guts"); in Hebrew it's more often a complaint. Leo Rosten's classic definition (murdering your parents then pleading for mercy as an orphan) is a joke illustration, not a usage rule.
What lives next to this word?
See the language constellation
Follow this word into a guided story
Sources & review
Want to use this word? Understand it inside a full sentence — Open Baba →