Best one-syllable Sch- / Sh- words from German / Yiddish. Also shouldn't English just absorb all of them?

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I was pressure cooking a rotisserie chicken and thought about schmaltz and why it has that connotation when it's so flavorful in broth, then started thinking there's really an absurd number of sh- sounding words that have made it to English: schmuck, schlep, spiel etc... so why not complete the collection?

Philip Nunez, Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:04 (one month ago)

Schtick is pretty good. And schlock.

Two syllables, but I've always quite enjoyed schlemiel.

emil.y, Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:22 (one month ago)

schlong of course

Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:24 (one month ago)

Schmutter (2 schyllables)

The Olde, Old, Very Olde Man. (Tom D.), Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:26 (one month ago)

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shvantz

Major Kirascuro (Leee), Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:26 (one month ago)

schvitz is a personal fav

harper valley paul thomas anderson (voodoo chili), Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:32 (one month ago)

this will probably be a schvort thread

Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:37 (one month ago)

schmutz

Serfin' USA (sleeve), Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:37 (one month ago)

bear in mind words beginning with an "sp" in German are pronounced "schp...", so "spiel" fits here

massaman gai (front tea for two), Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:43 (one month ago)

oh sorry you already had "spiel" in your examples in the top thread post ! how embarrassing! i should learn to read!

massaman gai (front tea for two), Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:44 (one month ago)

Shtup

Venus of Willendorf on Golf (jaymc), Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:46 (one month ago)

schlag

massaman gai (front tea for two), Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:47 (one month ago)

schlimm

massaman gai (front tea for two), Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:47 (one month ago)

Schnozzle

The Olde, Old, Very Olde Man. (Tom D.), Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:48 (one month ago)

Schnorrer

The Olde, Old, Very Olde Man. (Tom D.), Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:48 (one month ago)

Schmeckt.

oder doch?, Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:49 (one month ago)

sadly, "schlampe" still in common use by macho fuckwits, incels etc

massaman gai (front tea for two), Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:49 (one month ago)

schtupp

massaman gai (front tea for two), Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:49 (one month ago)

schnickschnack

massaman gai (front tea for two), Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:50 (one month ago)

schreck

massaman gai (front tea for two), Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:52 (one month ago)

SCHMUTZ

massaman gai (front tea for two), Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:52 (one month ago)

I wonder if "that smarts!" came from schmerz. I feel like it would still be a good to import a second time for making compound words.

Philip Nunez, Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:53 (one month ago)

schwag

Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:53 (one month ago)

goddamn you guys already said schmutz i am useless at this. what a schlemihl !

massaman gai (front tea for two), Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:56 (one month ago)

what a schmendrick !

massaman gai (front tea for two), Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:57 (one month ago)

what a schlimazel!

massaman gai (front tea for two), Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:57 (one month ago)

what a schmegegge !

massaman gai (front tea for two), Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:57 (one month ago)

key and peele did a sketch saying “schmutz” several times, I thought only my family said that

Toe Bean Sprout (Boring, Maryland), Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:58 (one month ago)

also i can't count

massaman gai (front tea for two), Thursday, 19 February 2026 18:59 (one month ago)

https://www.vermontmoviestore.com/cdn/shop/products/111DVD_LAST_POLKA_360x.jpg

Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 19 February 2026 19:00 (one month ago)

Schwa.

Major Kirascuro (Leee), Thursday, 19 February 2026 19:38 (one month ago)

Schlub

Schlub 7 (Tom D.), Thursday, 19 February 2026 19:42 (one month ago)

Maybe schnuck can be verb-ized into "being abducted/cajoled into singing"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r55_wi5uicg

Philip Nunez, Thursday, 19 February 2026 20:37 (one month ago)

schnook. or what henry hill lived the rest of his life as

harper valley paul thomas anderson (voodoo chili), Thursday, 19 February 2026 20:42 (one month ago)

Schtoked (California-yiddish)

Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 19 February 2026 20:43 (one month ago)

Schmo

Schlub 7 (Tom D.), Thursday, 19 February 2026 21:06 (one month ago)

that's actually one I use kinda often, along with schlub & schlep

Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 19 February 2026 21:08 (one month ago)

Schwing! or was that just invented by Mike Myers?

that ronnie hazlehurst chord (Matt #2), Thursday, 19 February 2026 21:19 (one month ago)

Shpuck, meaning “to nose around”. Anyone else use this?

Chuck_Tatum, Thursday, 19 February 2026 23:29 (one month ago)

never heard of shpuck, but was disappointed to find out "snook" comes from Dutch

Philip Nunez, Thursday, 19 February 2026 23:40 (one month ago)

Strange my family used it all the time but I can’t find it online

He’s a bit of a spucher

Chuck_Tatum, Thursday, 19 February 2026 23:43 (one month ago)

Schwing! or was that just invented by Mike Myers?

mike myers apparently based the Wayne lingo on the teenage lingo in Toronto of his youth

Mollusk, Virginia (Boring, Maryland), Thursday, 19 February 2026 23:45 (one month ago)

Was gonna say schmatta, but evidently it's basically the same word as schmutter

Josefa, Friday, 20 February 2026 00:06 (one month ago)

what a schande!

Philip Nunez, Friday, 20 February 2026 00:08 (one month ago)

very scheisty

Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 20 February 2026 01:00 (one month ago)

Sticking to one-syllable words, these German lexical items need to enter the English language:

'Schmarrn' = Austrian word for the meaningless rubbish that someone else says, e.g.: "Dauernd hat er seinen Mund auf und raus kommt nur Schmarrn." ("His mouth is always open but he only spouts cr*p.")
'Schmier' = Swiss German dialect word for the police
'Schnuck' = regional (Central German) word for sweets
'Schnick Schnack Schnuck', or in North Germany 'Sching Schang Schong' = German names for the game 'Rock, paper, scissors'

Polysyllabic German words:

'Schabernack' = a prank that you play on other people
'Schnudergoof' = an annoying child in Swiss German
'Schoggi' = Swiss German word for chocolate. It just sounds good.
'Schoofseckel' = Swiss German word for a complete idiot.

Wry & Slobby (Portsmouth Bubblejet), Friday, 20 February 2026 10:23 (one month ago)

And speaking of 'sch/sh' words that have already made it across into English, 'Shamus'(US slang for a detective) most likely originates from the Yiddish word 'shammes', which had the original meaning of a caretaker.

Wry & Slobby (Portsmouth Bubblejet), Friday, 20 February 2026 10:29 (one month ago)

or in North Germany 'Sching Schang Schong' = German names for the game 'Rock, paper, scissors'

I looked into this a bit as my Northern German parents only ever used the literal "schere, stein, papier" and the name you cited seems dangerously close to a German's person imitation of Chinese. No full confirmation of this but some speculation that, as the game originated in Japan, it could have been the result of a mistranslation. I'd stick to shnick shnack schnuck to be safe.

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Friday, 20 February 2026 10:43 (one month ago)

Shtum - which seems to be only in use in the UK.

Schlub 7 (Tom D.), Friday, 20 February 2026 10:48 (one month ago)

I looked into this a bit as my Northern German parents only ever used the literal "schere, stein, papier" and the name you cited seems dangerously close to a German's person imitation of Chinese. No full confirmation of this but some speculation that, as the game originated in Japan, it could have been the result of a mistranslation. I'd stick to shnick shnack schnuck to be safe.

The ever-wonderful Atlas zur deutschen Alltagssprache website has a bit more on the possible origins of this.

Wry & Slobby (Portsmouth Bubblejet), Friday, 20 February 2026 10:50 (one month ago)

one that should be adopted is Spießer (noun: person who does it/ is that) or spießig (adjective: sharing / having that quality) which describes a curtain-twitching jobsworth aspirational middle-class mean-spirited twee conservative OCD snitch

massaman gai (front tea for two), Friday, 20 February 2026 11:06 (one month ago)

Another British only one, even though it's not certain it's from Yiddish:

Shtuck

Schlub 7 (Tom D.), Friday, 20 February 2026 11:24 (one month ago)

"shtum" is the German adjective "stumm" which you might recognize from Mute records catalogue numbers - it means silent or mute or "shut up" and is pronounced roughly"shtoom"
"shtuck" i've never heard in British English, but the German "Stück" means "piece" and is pronounced roughly as "shtook"

massaman gai (front tea for two), Friday, 20 February 2026 11:35 (one month ago)

two German terms of endearment are Schatz & Spatz (pronounced shpatz)
eg
mein kleiner Schatz - my little treasure
mein kleiner Spatz - my little sparrow

massaman gai (front tea for two), Friday, 20 February 2026 11:38 (one month ago)

"shtuck" i've never heard in British English, but the German "Stück" means "piece" and is pronounced roughly as "shtook

You haven't watched enough episodes of The Sweeney or Minder. "In shtuck" = "in trouble".

Schlub 7 (Tom D.), Friday, 20 February 2026 11:47 (one month ago)

commonly used
"schade" (adj) what a pity / what a shame / sorry to hear that / too bad / what a bummer
less commonly used
"Schande!" (noun) what an absolutely unconscionable disgrace!

massaman gai (front tea for two), Friday, 20 February 2026 11:48 (one month ago)

i wonder if "in shtuck" for "in trouble" comes from a Germanised/Yiddish take on "bit" - "he's in a bit of trouble", the German "Stück" can mean EN "bit"?

massaman gai (front tea for two), Friday, 20 February 2026 11:54 (one month ago)

"shpuck" meaning "to nose around" is kinda baffling cos "Spuck" auf Deutsch (pron "shpook") means spit or puke, the verb "spucken" means to puke or spit
???

massaman gai (front tea for two), Friday, 20 February 2026 11:58 (one month ago)

unless it's a double rhyming slang with "butcher's hook", eg "let's take a butcher's at that"???

massaman gai (front tea for two), Friday, 20 February 2026 11:59 (one month ago)

The ever-wonderful Atlas zur deutschen Alltagssprache website has a bit more on the possible origins of this.

Really confused as to how one could get to Shing Shang Shong from Sansukumi-ken and still kinda feel like this is surely the work of some white person somewhere going "well you know those asian names!", but who knows.

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Friday, 20 February 2026 12:11 (one month ago)

"shpuck" meaning "to nose around" is kinda baffling cos "Spuck" auf Deutsch (pron "shpook") means spit or puke, the verb "spucken" means to puke or spit

A Spuk can also be a ghost, or a haunting, so maybe in the same lineage as British spooks being investigators?

Tho it should be noted not all yiddish words are close to German; I did a taster course in yiddish at soas once, and most of the time I was just adding sh's to my German and doing fine but every now and then you get something like "mischpoke" for family or "bulbes" for potatoes that no German would ever be able to figure out. Slavic language influences as well as hebrew.

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Friday, 20 February 2026 12:14 (one month ago)

Spook = ghost in English too

Schlub 7 (Tom D.), Friday, 20 February 2026 12:34 (one month ago)

Schmear

Josefa, Friday, 20 February 2026 12:56 (one month ago)

schmooze and schmoozer

symsymsym, Saturday, 21 February 2026 03:39 (one month ago)

is schmarm same as schmäe?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSjXksNgYbE

Philip Nunez, Saturday, 21 February 2026 20:09 (one month ago)

In German at least schmarm is nonsense (as well as a dish), schmae from what I'm reading is more like a specific kind of Viennese wit, so they're kinda opposites.

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Saturday, 21 February 2026 21:17 (one month ago)

one month passes...

I was told Schlitz was slang for genitals and thus a curious choice for a beer brand but I replied the reputation was that it was piss water and that seemed to explain it.

Philip Nunez, Thursday, 2 April 2026 05:32 (one week ago)


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