ghetto

[get-oh]

noun

plural

ghettos, ghettoes 

1. a section of a city, especially a thickly populated slum area, inhabited predominantly by members of an ethnic or other minority group, often as a result of social pressures or economic hardships.

2. (formerly, in most European countries) a section of a city in which all Jews were required to live.

3. any mode of living, working, etc., that results from stereotyping or biased treatment.

   job ghettos for women; ghettos for the elderly.

adjective

1. pertaining to or characteristic of life in a ghetto or the people who live there.

   ghetto culture.

2. Slang: Often Disparaging and Offensive.,  noting something that is considered to be unrefined, low-class, cheap, or inferior.

ghetto

/ ˈɡɛtəʊ /

noun

1. sociol a densely populated slum area of a city inhabited by a socially and economically deprived minority

2. an area in a European city in which Jews were formerly required to live

3. a group or class of people that is segregated in some way

Word History and Origins

Origin of ghetto¹

First recorded in 1605–15; from Italian, originally the name of an island near Venice where Jews were forced to reside in the 16th century, from Venetian dialect: literally, “foundry for artillery” (giving the island its name); futher origin uncertain

Word History and Origins

Origin of ghetto¹

C17: from Italian, perhaps shortened from borghetto, diminutive of borgo settlement outside a walled city; or from the Venetian ghetto the medieval iron-founding district, largely inhabited by Jews

Example Sentences

After the exhibition’s stark presentation on Jewish ghettos, Nazi killing squads and concentration camps, the class photo reappears.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

The Polish-born actress, 96, who escaped a Nazi ghetto as a child and forged a successful career in dance and drama, is thought to have died last weekend at the Pegasos clinic near Basel.

Read more on BBC

His social commentary encompassed war, protests, ghetto life, police brutality, pollution, and nuclear holocaust.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

He’s one of the well-heeled German Jews who left Europe early and look down on their ghetto brethren.

Read more on Salon

I’m a little bit of cowboy on top, little bit of disco on the bottom, a little bit ghetto country on the bottom, on my feet.

Read more on Los Angeles Times