shtetl

[shtet-l, shtey-tl]

noun, plural shtet·lach [shtet-lahkh, -luh kh, shteyt-] /ˈʃtɛt lɑx, -ləx, ˈʃteɪt-/, English shtetls. Yiddish.

(formerly) a Jewish village or small-town community in eastern Europe.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for shtetl

Contemporary Examples of shtetl

He was the manager where I was working, an old-fashioned Jew from the Polish shtetl.
Mel Brooks Is Always Funny and Often Wise in This 1975 Playboy Interview
Alex Belth
February 16, 2014

British Dictionary definitions for shtetl

shtetl

noun plural shtetlach (ˈʃtetlaːx) or shtetls

(formerly) a small Jewish community in Eastern Europe

Word Origin for shtetl

Yiddish, little town

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for shtetl

Jewish small town or village in Eastern Europe, 1949, from Yiddish, literally "little town," from diminutive of German Stadt "city, town," from Old High German stat "place," from PIE root *sta- "to stand" (see stet).