matzo
Americannoun
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matzos,
plural
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matzoth,
plural
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matzot
plural
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unleavened bread in the form of large crackers, typically square and corrugated, eaten by Jews during Passover.
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one of these crackers.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of matzo
First recorded in 1840–50; from Yiddish matse, from Hebrew maṣṣāh
Explanation
Matzo is a cracker-like bread that's traditionally eaten during Passover. When matzo is ground into a flour, it can be used to make matzo balls for soup. During the Jewish holiday of Passover, observant Jews don't eat anything that's leavened, like yeast bread that rises before being baked. Matzo is a good, if crispy, substitute for bread, and it's unleavened. Matzo is also symbolic, representing both freedom and humility. It's sometimes spelled matzoh or matzah, from the Hebrew matztzah, "unleavened bread," or literally, "juiceless."
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.
See Examples For:
His forebear Moses Montefiore was a British philanthropist who in 1840 helped secure the release of imprisoned Damascene Jews accused of blood libel—the false claim that Jews used Christian blood to bake matzo.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
Cracker-like matzo is OK to eat; most breads, pastas, cakes and cookies are off-limits.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 20, 2024
With wet hands, make about 1 inch balls out of the matzo ball mix and gently drop them into the water.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2023
Soon lunch arrives, an international smorgasbord of latkes, kale salad, a chicken quesadilla and matzo ball soup.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2023
Like us, they are Cuban and Jewish—they dance the cha-cha-cha, and eat matzo on Passover.
From "Lucky Broken Girl" by Ruth Behar
Alongside the plate are three matzos — or unleavened flatbread — that symbolize Jewish resistance and faith.
From Salon ● Apr. 5, 2023
One of those “impactful” elements is the three pieces of unleavened bread — matzos — which are contained in a “Matzo Tosh,” or bag, he said.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 4, 2023
If you don’t prefer gluten-free matzos, substitute a traditional matzo mix, she also notes.
From Fox News ● Nov. 30, 2021
So I FedExed a box of matzos to her hotel.
From New York Times ● Jul. 22, 2010
As each family in turn gets the use of the public baking-oven, it is necessary to start soon after Purim to prepare the special flour used for matzos.
From Pictures of Jewish Home-Life Fifty Years Ago by Hannah Trager
In one story, it is 1959 and Mr. Lois is a young ad man with the Goodman’s matzot account.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 21, 2022
After feasting on chicken soup with matzoth balls, gefilte fish, and boiled beef with horseradish, it is inconceivable that one drop of animosity toward Israel could remain in Feisal's kingly body.
From Time Magazine Archive
For the first time since the Romans leveled Jerusalem 1,800 years ago, a Jewish army ate Passover matzoth and bitter herbs around campfires in the field.
From Time Magazine Archive
Soviet diplomats, by now well-accustomed to confrontations with Jewish organizations over the treatment of Soviet Jews, quickly devised a counterploy: they refused to accept delivery and dumped the matzoth into the laps of the U.S.
From Time Magazine Archive
But in many of these places, one does not live by matzoth, pita or tortillas alone.
From Time Magazine Archive
Come! raise thyself to spheres more glorious, He'll follow when thou matzoth his sight.
From The Poems of Goethe Translated in the original metres by Edgar Alfred Bowring
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.
