Dictionary

zaftig en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈzæf.tɪɡ/ (UK)
• /ˈzɑf.tɪɡ/ (US)

Etymology

From Yiddish זאַפֿטיק (zaftik), cognate to German saftig (“juicy”). Doublet of sappy.

Meanings

1. (US, colloquial, of a woman) Having a plump and sexually attractive figure; voluptuous, well-proportioned; large.
   • By his description the same broad. A zaftige piece too, in a mink stole. 1953 September 18, Saul Bellow, chapter XXII, in The Adventures of Augie March […], New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press, →OCLC, page 460:
   • 1995 [Bill] Clinton has his first sexual encounter with zaftig intern [Monica] Lewinsky. 2000 January 22, “D.C. 90210”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 11 Mar 2012:
   • Mrs Stahlbaum, a much more zaftig figure than the Housekeeper, wears a strawberry blonde wig with bangs, her hair tied back in a bun. 1996, Gay Morris, “Moving Words: Re-Writing Dance”, in Gay Morris, editor, 9: "Styles of the Flesh": Gender in the Dances of Mark Morris, page 152:
   • Tor's “old lady,” Bari, is a warmer zaftig presence. 2022, Jennifer Egan, “What the Forest Remembers”, in The Candy House:
   • But I've been waiting for you just to say / The zoftig chick is mine / But all I know is you got no money / But that's got nothing to do with a good time 1992, Sonic Youth, “100%”, in Dirty, Geffen Records:
   • Sportcasters are drawn from three different talent pools. Some are professional media people, others are ex-coaches and the most zaftig lot are ex-players. 1980, Washington Journalism Review, volume 2:
   • Well, a certain zaftig coed told this on herself. She tried to give her all to Brainy in exchange for a passing grade in the general math course necessary to any degree on our campus. […] "Brainy" didn't accept, didn't refuse, wasn't offended, didn't seem to understand. He told her that she had better talk to her instructor about getting tutoring and a re-exam. Now Miss Zaftig is circulating the story that Prof "No Brain" must be a eunuch or a robot. Not even a homo. Totally sexless. 1980, Robert A. Heinlein, chapter VII, in The Number of the Beast, part 1, pages 61–62:
   • Short and zoftig, she [Sue Mengers] wore muumuus and rose-tinted, oversize glasses, was loud, abrasive, and very funny. 1998, Peter Biskind, “The Moviegoer”, in Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock’n’Roll Generation Saved Hollywood, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 132:
   • And being fatter at the outset meant you had more to offer; scrawnier mothers were consumed sooner than their more zaftig counterparts, which then meant that the young spiders were less likely to turn from their parent to an arguably even more unsavory occupation: eating each other. 2011, Marlene Zuk, Sex on Six Legs: Lessons on Life, Love, and Language from the Insect World, page 156:

Forms

Synonyms

voluptuous · pneumatic · full-figured · curvesome · chubby · sensual · sonsy · luscious · toothsome · juicy · curvy · red-hot · well-endowed · well-proportioned · voluptuous · thick · Rubenesque · thicc · built · buxom · Rubenesque · curvaceous · embonpoint · zaftig · buxom

Translations (11)

yi זאַפֿטיק (plump and voluptuous) · fr voluptueux (plump and voluptuous) · cs vnadný (plump and voluptuous) · de wollüstig (plump and voluptuous) · de üppig (plump and voluptuous) · da sanselig (plump and voluptuous) · pdt druglich (plump and voluptuous) · de verlockend (plump and voluptuous) · fr somptueux (plump and voluptuous) · la sūcidus (plump and voluptuous) · cs kyprý (plump and voluptuous)