שווערקייט

Yiddish

Alternative forms

Etymology

שווער (shver) +‎ ־קייט (-keyt). Compare German Schwierigkeit.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈʃvɛrkaɪ̯t/

Noun

שווערקייט • (shverkeytf, plural שווערקייטן (shverkeytn)

  1. difficulty
  2. heaviness, weight

Usage notes

  • There is a tendency to use שוועריקייט for 'difficulty' and שווערקייט for 'heaviness' (e.g. in the quote above), although both words can be used for 'difficulty'. Schaechter's dictionary[1] lists שווערקייט under 'heaviness' and שוועריקייט under 'difficulty'.

References

  1. ^ Schaechter-Viswanath, Gitl; Glasser, Paul (2016), “heaviness”, in Comprehensive English-Yiddish Dictionary, Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, →ISBN