How is the word ‘chutzpah’ pronounced?
(R. Mukund, Pune)
The ‘ch’ in the first syllable is like the ‘h’ in ‘hut’, ‘hiss’, and ‘have’, the following ‘u’ is like the ‘u’ in ‘put’, ‘pull’, and ‘full’. The ‘z’ sounds like the ‘s’ in ‘sit’ and ‘sat’, and the final ‘a’ is like the ‘a’ in ‘china’. The ‘h’ is silent, and the stress is on the first syllable ‘chut’. The word is pronounced ‘hutspe’. Americans sometimes spell this word of Yiddish origin ‘chutzpa’.
When you say that someone has ‘chutzpah’, what you mean is that the person is not afraid to say or do things which often embarrass or shock other people. You admire the person because he has the audacity and the supreme self confidence to do what he wants to. The word is always used to show approval.
Such was his chutzpah that he asked his new boss if he could take her daughter to a movie.
S. UPENDRAN
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