kishke

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• keeshka
• kishka
• kiszka

Etymology

1935–40. From Yiddish קישקע (kishke), from Slavic—Polish kiszka, Russian кишка (kíška), or Ukrainian кишка (kýška). Ultimately from Proto-Slavic *kyša, *kyšьka (“intestine, stomach”). Related to Sanskrit कोष्ठ (koṣṭha, “intestine”) and possibly Ancient Greek κύστις (kustis, “bladder”).

The word has also entered regional English in Polish-American communities.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈkɪʃkə/

Noun

kishke (plural kishkes)

1. A dish made from stuffed intestine.
2. (informal, often in the plural) Intestines, guts.

   1969, Subsequently she was over the toilet all night throwing up. ‘My kishkas came out from that thing! Some practical joker!’ — Philip Roth, Portnoy's Complaint

Synonyms

• (dish): blood pudding, blood sausage
• (dish): derma, stuffed derma, stuffed kishke
• (intestines): stomach, gut, guts

References

• “kishke” in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006.
• “kishke” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
• “kishke” in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Online.
• “kishke” in the The New Oxford American Dictionary, Second Edition, Oxford University Press, 2005
• “kishka” and “kishke” in Frederic Gomes Cassidy, Joan Houston Hall (1985), Dictionary of American Regional English, p 228, Harvard University Press, ISBN 067420519
• “кишка” in An Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language, Jaroslav B. Rudnycʼkyj, 1962–82.