shadchan

[ Yiddish, Ashkenazic Hebrew, English shaht-khuhn; Sephardic Hebrew shaht-khahn ]

noun,plural shad·cha·nim [Yiddish, Ashkenazic Hebrew shaht-khaw-nim; Sephardic Hebrew shaht-khah-neem], /Yiddish, Ashkenazic Hebrew ʃɑtˈxɔ nɪm; Sephardic Hebrew ʃɑt xɑˈnim/, English shad·chans.Yiddish and Hebrew.

Words Nearby shadchan

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use shadchan in a sentence

  • Many a marriageable maiden who came to view the trousseau went home to prink and blush and watch for the shadchan.

    The Promised Land | Mary Antin
  • She even surreptitiously called in the shadchan, or rather surrendered to his solicitations.

    Ghetto Tragedies | Israel Zangwill
  • "Perhaps they won't give a dowry," he thought with a consolatory sense of outwitting the shadchan.

  • "He has all the qualities that you desire," began the shadchan, in a tone that repudiated the implications of the monosyllable.

  • She still lives with her brother and his wife; he married Sugarman the shadchan's daughter, you know.'

British Dictionary definitions for shadchan

shadchan

/ Yiddish (ˈʃatxən, Hebrew ʃɑdˈxɑn) /


nounplural shadchanim (ʃatˈxɔnɪm) or shadchans
  1. a Jewish marriage broker

Origin of shadchan

1
from Hebrew shadhkhān, from shiddēkh to arrange a marriage

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