gesundheit

American  

[guh-zoont-hahyt] / gəˈzʊnt haɪt /

interjection

1. (used to wish good health, especially to a person who has just sneezed.)

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gesundheit British  

/ ɡəˈzʊnthait /

1. an expression used to wish good health to someone who has just sneezed

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Gesundheit Cultural  

1. 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.

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Etymology

Origin of gesundheit

1905–10, < German: literally, health, equivalent to gesund healthy ( Old High German gisunt; see sound ²) + -heit -hood

Explanation

When someone sneezes, you might say "Gesundheit!" It's a way to wish good health on the sneezer, similar to saying "Bless you!" There are dozens of languages with responses for when someone sneezes, perhaps because it can be a sign that a person is getting sick. In English, the most common responses are "Bless you" or "God bless you," but in German it's often "Gesundheit!" — meaning "health." Its use in American English might be because so many German speakers came to the United States in the 1800s and 1900s and brought their own form of well-wishing with them.

Example Sentences

Why bother still bringing up someone’s nepo-ness whenever their name is mentioned, with both the mic-drop confidence of a gotcha and the rote formality of a gesundheit?

From Slate • Jan. 30, 2024

The Wisconsinite says gesundheit, after all, because that part of the country was once packed with German immigrants.

From Time • Apr. 6, 2015

“Fine. He said wanderlust., so what? If I say gesundheit when someone sneezes, it hardly means I speak German,” Maytag retorted.

From "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose Wood