What does chutzpah mean?
Chutzpah refers to extraordinary audacity or nerve — the supreme self-confidence needed to attempt something most people would consider impossible, improper, or simply too embarrassing. Borrowed into English from Yiddish, and ultimately from Hebrew, it is used both admiringly and critically. To have chutzpah is to be boldly unafraid of consequences, as in asking for a promotion on your first day; but the word equally describes shameless gall, as in someone who behaves outrageously and then acts aggrieved at any complaint. This built-in ambivalence makes the word especially expressive: whether the speaker applauds or condemns depends entirely on tone and context. Chutzpah functions as an uncountable noun ('it takes chutzpah') and remains informal yet thoroughly naturalized in British and American English. Related forms such as the adjective 'chutzpadik' exist in Yiddish-influenced usage. Few words so compactly capture the fine line between courage and insolence, which is why chutzpah endures as one of English's most vivid loanwords.
nounSupreme self-confidence, audacity, or nerve, especially when it borders on rudeness or shamelessness; the gall to do or say something that others would not dare.
- Audacious boldness or nerve, often admired as fearless confidence in the face of authority or odds
- Shameless effrontery or gall, condemned as rude or presumptuous behavior
"It took real chutzpah to demand a raise minutes after missing the deadline."
"You'd need enormous chutzpah to pitch your startup to investors while still working for their biggest competitor."
"The sheer chutzpah of charging customers a fee for paying their own bill left everyone speechless."
Rarely pluralized; chutzpah is almost always treated as an uncountable mass noun referring to a quality.
"The two rivals displayed very different kinds of chutzpah."
Chutzpah is the quality of a man who kills his parents and then begs the court for mercy because he's an orphan — the classic definition says it all.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of chutzpah
Chutzpah comes from Yiddish khutspe, which borrowed it from the Hebrew word ḥutspah, meaning insolence or audacity. The word entered American English via Yiddish-speaking immigrants in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and gradually spread into mainstream usage. Its Hebrew roots give it a lineage far older than its English career, and related forms survive in both modern Hebrew and Yiddish, such as the adjective chutzpadik.
Related word forms
How chutzpah is actually used
Chutzpah entered English through Yiddish and retains a distinctly Jewish flavor, though it is now widely used by speakers of all backgrounds. Its connotation is ambivalent: calling someone's action 'chutzpah' can be admiring (bold, gutsy) or damning (insolent, unmitigated gall), and tone or context decides which. It is informal but fully established in standard English; the original Hebrew-style pronunciation with a guttural initial sound coexists with fully anglicized versions beginning with 'h'.
Easily confused with chutzpah
Mox means spirited courage and determination, while chutzpah carries an added edge of brazenness or cheek that may verge on the outrageous.