gesundheit
(used to wish good health, especially to a person who has just sneezed.)
Origin of gesundheit
1Words Nearby gesundheit
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use gesundheit in a sentence
At the same interview, when the doctor sneezed, she said "gesundheit."
Benign Stupors | August HochI involuntarily cried "Prosit und gesundheit" as we whizzed through them.
A Summer's Outing | Carter H. Harrison
British Dictionary definitions for gesundheit
/ German (ɡəˈzʊnthait) /
an expression used to wish good health to someone who has just sneezed
Origin of gesundheit
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for Gesundheit
[ (guh-zoont-heyt) ]
German for “good health.” Like the English phrase “Bless you,” it is conventionally said to someone who has just sneezed. This reflects the superstition that a sneeze can cause the soul to fly out of the body; saying the phrase prevents this from happening.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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