Dictionary

tchotchke en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈt͡ʃɑt͡ʃkə/ (General-American)
• /-ki/ (General-American)
• /ˈt͡ʃɒt͡ʃkə/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (General-American) audio

Etymology

Borrowed from Yiddish טשאַטשקע (tshatshke, “ornament; trinket; toy; (figurative) attractive girl or woman”), from a Slavic language and probably ultimately imitative of a baby’s utterances. Slavic cognates * 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”) * Ukrainian ца́цка (cácka, “(dated) toy; ornament, trinket; conceited person; well-dressed person”), from ца́ца (cáca, “toy; well-behaved child; conceited person; attractive woman”)

Meanings

1. (US, informal) A small ornament of minor value; a knick-knack, a trinket.
   • 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." 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 06 Apr 2024, page 31:
   • Traveling from slick AI showrooms to warehouses full of holiday tchotchkes, Ann Scott Tyson found optimism, nimbleness, and resilience – even in the face of U.S. sanctions. 2025 December 29, Ann Scott Tyson, “In 2025, China proved its innovation prowess. But are some workers getting left behind?”, in The Christian Science Monitor:
   • 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. 2006, Jack Sullivan, “Psycho”, in Hitchcock’s Music, New Haven, Conn.; London: Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 244:
   • With limited cash and a thirst for uncommon sights, backpackers have pushed into challenging territory well before the big-money resorts or tchotchke merchants. 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 17 Sep 2017, page 5.16:
   • 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. 1998 April, Mark Rakatansky, “A/Partments”, in Assemblage, number 35, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, paragraph 45, page 58:
   • We're stuck with: 14 Provincial & Modern Kitchen chairs— […] 23 assorted Lamps and miscellaneous "Tchotchkes"! Help us unload. 1957 September 18, “You’re often sorry later when you don’t—plan ahead [Affiliated Home Distributors advertisement]”, in Citizen-News, Valley edition, volume 53, number 147, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Calif.: Harlan G. Palmer, →OCLC, page 6C, columns 3–4:
   • “The night market is a bit like the famous Italian street fairs of Little Italy. Very diverse. Lots of different cultures represented. Sticky shit all over the ground. And a good place to pillage or barter tchotchkes.” 2022 July 26, William Meny & Paul Simms, “The Night Market” (5:01 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 4, episode 4, spoken by Nandor the Relentless (Kayvan Novak):
   • Barbra Streisand's ambition: to open a knick-knack shop called "Tchotchkes" (Yiddish for "knick-knacks") … [1969 November 10, Earl Wilson, “Names make news items”, in J. Ray Hunt, editor, Philadelphia Daily News, volume XLV, number 190, Philadelphia, Pa.: Triangle Publications, →OCLC, page 45, column 1:
2. (US, dated, figuratively, in Jewish contexts, informal) An attractive girl or woman.
   • 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 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:
   • He looked Elinor over appraisingly as she seated herself on the banquette between him and Jake. "A real tsatskeh," he said with approval. 1970, Stanley Ellin, chapter 19, in The Bind, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →OCLC, page 94:
   • My mother is still convinced that her little boy doesn't eat enough (I've gained 15 pounds the last six months), and that he doesn't get enough sleep (I average a good nine hours a night), […] She is always giving me advice, chiding me for the error of my ways, warning me not to drive too fast, and in general behaving as if her tsatske hasn't got enough sense to get in out of the rain. [1947 December 15, Sydney J[ustin] Harris, “Strictly Personal: Harris says offspring always children to mom”, in Waterloo Daily Courier, volume 89, number 298, Waterloo, Iowa: W. H. Hartman Company, →OCLC, page 4, column 2:

Forms

Relateds

schwag · swag

Synonyms

whim-wham · goddess · doll · angel · folderol · looker · femme fatale · bomb · gewgaw · ten · odalisque · cookie · bombshell · knockout · enchantress · dimber mort · vixen · belle · trangam · trinket · stunner · beauty · piece of crumpet · bric-a-brac · betty · pretty · mathom · fandangle · cutie · hottie · jelly · tchotchke · fizgig · novelty · babe · bimbo · lovely · cupcake · tchotchke · peng ting · bit of crumpet · fox · tat · stoater · stunna · HB · fangle · knick-knack · houri · kickshaw · bauble · golden girl