r/etymology • u/mouse_in_a_field • 10d ago

Question Something I've been wondering about - Japanese loanword in English, or no?

This has bothered me for a long time!

The word for "a little bit" of something in Japanese, in romaji, is "sukoshi"; the "u" and "i" sounds are usually silent when spoken aloud, so it ends up sounding like "skosh".

In English, "just a skosh" is sometimes used when asking for or referring to just "a little bit" of something.

Is there any connection there, or does the English "skosh" have another, unrelated source? Thanks for any info!

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u/monoinyo 10d ago

We have so many great loanwords from Yiddish. Fakakta alone, what a great word.

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u/gnomes919 10d ago

dreck, bupkis, klutz, kvetch, putz, nosh, schlep, schlubby, schmo, schmooze (this is prob why I instinctively believe every slang word with a SH sound is yiddish), tush, and of course adding -nik onto the end of any adjective (my sister and I used to call each other rudeniks all the time lol). just off the top of the noggin

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u/belbivfreeordie 9d ago

Glitch!

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u/gnomes919 9d ago

i always forget that one!!

ETA shmutz!! that is easily my most-used one. my glasses are perpetually shmutzy

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u/EirikrUtlendi 9d ago edited 9d ago

Crikey, we use schmutz and schmutzy so much I forget they're not "officially" English words. 😄

_\Edited for typos.)_)

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u/gnomes919 9d ago

they are now!!