tsuris

/tsʊɹɪs/

Etymology

Borrowed from Yiddish צרות (tsores), plural of צרה (tsore, “trouble, problem”), from Hebrew צָרָה (tsará, “trouble, tragedy, calamity”).

tsuris means problems or troubles. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 90 out of 100.

tsuris is pronounced /tsʊɹɪs/.

Why “tsuris” is a great word

TSURIS — [Noun] A cumulative burden of troubles or woes, carrying the weight of persistent anxiety and communal exasperation. Borrowed from Yiddish צרות (tsores), the plural of צרה (tsore, 'trouble, problem'), from Hebrew צָרָה (tsará, 'trouble, tragedy, calamity'). Unlike “trouble,” a general and bloodless term for difficulty, or “grief,” which centers on profound personal sorrow, tsuris is the nagging, granular gravel in the shoe of a life—the landlord's chronic plumbing ache, the unending drama of a relative's business, the low-grade panic of a tax letter. It is the shared understanding that some burdens are not events to be solved, but the very weather of existence.

noun

Problems or troubles.“You think you got troubles? You should go down there and talk to some of those schnorrers. Still, what chutzbah^([sic]). It's like the Jewish moral sense, emerging from all that tsuris.”