chutzpah

Why is someone with shameless audacity said to have chutzpah?

Balls, cheek, nerve, brass — all synonyms for this wonderfully phlegmy Yiddish word defined by lexicographer Leo Rosten as "that quality enshrined in a man who, having killed his mother and father, throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan." With etymological roots going as far back as the Aramaic ḥu ṣpā evolving into the Hebrew verb khátsap “to be insolent,” we are gifted with this decidedly Jewish term whose phonetic quality itself exudes well-warranted disgust.

Varient spellings: chutzpa, hutzpah, hutzpa

Etymological journey: ḥu ṣpā (Aramaic) → khátsap, hutspah (Heb.) → khutspe (Yiddish)

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