Type in a word, followed by the enter key.
Related software
You might prefer to use the gloss displayer,
which lets you enter an entire text (in Yiddish letters) and see definitions of
all the words at one go.
Searchable strings
You can search for information by Yiddish word (in YIVO transcription or in
Yiddish letters), English translation, Hebrew
spelling of a loshn-koydesh word, and for some grammatical and usage markers.
Yiddish words in Yiddish letters
You may use ligatures or not, and if you leave out nekudes, the program will
try to fill them in. Use only the stem of the word (not the
plural, case-marked, or conjugated form) of nouns, adjectives, and verbs.
Examples:
type פּלימעניק,
not פּלימעניקעס;
type שײן,
not שײנע,
and העלף,
not העלפֿן or
אונטערגעהאָלפֿן.
Yiddish words in YIVO transcription
Write Yiddish words in YIVO transcription. Use the stem of the word (not the
plural, case-marked, or conjugated form) of nouns, adjectives, and verbs.
Examples: say plimenik, not plimenikes, sheyn, not sheyne, helf, not helfn or
untergeholfn.
YIVO transcription form uses the following consonants:
b g d h v z kh t y l m n s f p ts k r sh tsh zh dj
and the following vowels:
a e i o u oy ay ey
The following sentence is correctly transliterated.
ikh bin gekumen azoy vayt tsu shraybn a bisl mame-loshn!
Do not use German phonetic spelling. For instance, don't write
schpiel to mean shpil.
Loshn-koydesh derived words
Use capital letters for the first letters of Hebrew proper
names (like Refoyl and Binyomen).
Don't use capital letters for any other Yiddish words.
If you need a loshn-koydesh derived word, first spell it phonetically.
Unaccented vowels often should be spelled with an e, as in
borekh, bimkem, and
maskem.
If you don't know or can't guess the pronunciation, you may use the following
letters to spell out loshn-koydesh.
| aleph | א | # |
| veys | בֿ | B |
| vov | ו | w |
| khes | ח | H |
| yud | י | y |
| kof | כּ | K |
| khof | כ | x |
| ayin | ע | e |
| tsadi | צ | c |
| shin | ש | S |
| sin | שׂ | Q |
| sof | ת | T |
| tof | תּ | W |
Don't distinguish final khof, mem, nun, fe, tsadi.
Examples: type msKym for מסכּים, Slwm
for שלום.
In my data file, I surround all loshn-koydesh with {braces}, so you can use
them, too. For instance, ym} searches for all
loshn-koydesh words ending in yud-mem (ים).
Searching by other information
I record a few categories along with definitions. So type clothing or sound
and you will get lists of clothing words and sound words. I also note a few
grammatical items (try indeclinable) and usage (try
inadmissable or German).
On occasion I indicate where I saw a word, especially if I don't see the same
word in standard dictionaries; try Forwards,
Hoffman,
Bergelson,
note: V.
Nonstandard spellings
I have used standard YIVO Romanization and orthography in this dictionary. If
you are trying to find a word that uses other schemes (see the
Wikipedia article
for some insight), consider making these adjustments.
-
Don't use the prefix be-;
use ba-.
-
Don't use the prefix er-;
use der-.
-
Don't use the inseparable verb prefix tsu-;
use tse-.
-
Don't place an h after a vowel to lengthen
it; write ey instead of
eh, for instance.
-
If the text doesn't distinguish
a tsvey-yudn (ײ) from
pasekh-tsvey-yudn (ײַ), try both
ay and ey.
-
Similarly, if the text doesn't distinguish pe (פּ) from fe (פֿ), try both
p and f.
-
If the text has a word starting with alef-yud (such as אינגל), also search for it with yi, as in yingl.
-
If the text has a word ending in -ig,
try -ik.
-
The epenthetic ayin before a nun en
(ענ) is
sometimes absent in modern spelling, leaving just the nun.
-
If the text has a double consonant, such as tt, search with a single consonant, such as t.
-
If the text has an alef with a segol (אֶ), try
e.
-
Transliterate the khes (ח) as kh. Some books use the khes where standard
orthography uses the khof (כ).
-
If your text has a final khof with a dagesh (ךּ), just ignore the dagesh and use kh.