yahrzeit
/ˈjɑːtsaɪt/
Etymology
Borrowed from Yiddish יאָרצײַט (yortsayt), from Middle High German jārzīt (“anniversary; Christian commemoration of a person’s death”); from Middle High German jār (“year”) (from Old High German jār (“year”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *yéh₁-r/n- (“year”)) + Middle High German zīt (“time”) (from Old High German zīt (“time”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dh₂ítis (“part; time”), from the root *deh₂-, *deh₂-y- (“to chop up, divide; to distribute (pieces)”), whence also time and, via Ancient Greek, daemon). The Yiddish word is cognate with German Jahreszeit (“season”), which heavily influenced the spelling and pronunciation once the word was borrowed into English. Piecewise doublet of yeartide.
yahrzeit means the anniversary of a person's death, usually a parent's, often marked by the lighting of a memorial candle and other rituals. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 91 out of 100.
yahrzeit is pronounced /ˈjɑːtsaɪt/.
Why “yahrzeit” is a great word
YAHRZEIT — [Noun] The anniversary of a person's death, observed in Judaism by the lighting of a memorial candle and the recitation of the Kaddish prayer. Borrowed from Yiddish יאָרצײַט (yortsayt), from Middle High German jārzīt ("anniversary; Christian commemoration of a person’s death"), a compound of jār ("year") and zīt ("time"). First attested in English circa 1850–55. Unlike *yizkor* (which names a specific, communal memorial service) or a simple *anniversary* (which marks any yearly event), *yahrzeit* is a private calendar of grief, a singular orbit around an empty center. It is the small, steady flame in a glass on the kitchen counter; the worn page of a prayer book opened to a familiar, aching syllable; the specific gravity of a date that returns with the earth’s turn—a ritual that does not seek to mend the loss, but to measure it, one careful, burning year at a time.
noun
- The anniversary of a person's death, usually a parent's, often marked by the lighting of a memorial candle and other rituals.“"Yahrzeit" (year's time) is the anniversary of the parent's death. On the evening preceding, a light is kindled in the house, and kept burning until the following sundown. Synagogue service in the morning and evening is also attended, and the kaddish recited. "Nahala" (inheritance) is the poetic equivalent of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews for the Teutonic Yahrzeit.”