bupkis
Americannoun
-
nothing.
They've told us bupkis—we're going to have to find out what's going on for ourselves.
-
very little; the smallest amount.
It was a revolutionary piece of technology, and yet the inventor sold it for bupkis.
Etymology
Origin of bupkis
First recorded in 1935–40; from Yiddish bobkes, plural of bobke “piece of goat excrement, worthless thing,” literally “little bean,” from Slavic, equivalent to Polish bób “broad bean” + -ke, diminutive suffix; see also bean ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
So charging $1 on a $98 barrel is bupkis to oil producers and consumers, while it adds up to real money over time for the Iranians.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 11, 2026
They don't want to speak to us because we exercise our legal right to strike when they wasted the entire unprecedented 12-day extension and ended up offering us basically bupkis.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2023
The remaining contestants find out which Joe’s got bank and which Joe’s got bupkis in the season finale of “Joe Millionaire: For Richer or Poorer.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 6, 2022
In other words, another week or so will pass with the legislature having provided bupkis in the form of aid or stimulus to combat the pandemic that has shut down the world.
From Slate ● Mar. 13, 2020
How nice it would be to wake up on publication day and discover that Jared Kushner had mended an age-old hatred, leaving me with bupkis to talk about on NPR?
From Washington Post ● Nov. 13, 2017
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
