Dictionary

sheitel en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈʃaɪtəl/
• /ˈʃeɪtəl/

Etymology

From Yiddish שייטל (sheytl), cognate to German Scheitel (“parting”).

Meanings

1. (Judaism) A wig worn by married Orthodox Jewish women.
   • I keep wanting to put her in a sheitel, the wig that every Orthodox Jewish wife is supposed to wear in order to prevent a man not her husband from lusting after her in his heart. 2006, Howard Jacobson, Kalooki Nights, Vintage, published 2007, page 196:
   • Many even have their sheitel professionally styled: according to the New York Times, a Madison Avenue salon that specializes in sheitel grooming charges at least $600 for the service: […] 2022, Richard Thompson Ford, Dress Codes […] , Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 288:
2. (Polari) A wig (of any kind).
   • Will you take a varder at the cartz on the feely-omi in the naf strides: the one with the bona blue ogles polarying the omi-palone with a vogue on and a cod sheitel. 1997, James Gardiner, Who's a Pretty Boy Then?, page 137:

Forms

Coordinates

tichel · shpitzel

Translations (3)

pl szajtł (wig worn by married orthodox Jewish women) · yi שייטל (wig worn by married orthodox Jewish women) · he פֵּאָה (wig worn by married orthodox Jewish women)