schlock

English

Alternative forms

• shlock

Etymology

From Yiddish שלאַק (shlak), related to German Schlag (“blow”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ʃlɒk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ʃlɑk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒk

Noun

schlock (countable and uncountable, plural schlocks)

1. (colloquial, US) Commodity that is shoddy or inferior.
   • 1978, Don DeLillo, Running Dog, New York: Knopf, page 148:

     Before pop art, there was such a thing as bad taste. Now there’s kitsch, schlock, camp and porn.

Derived terms

• schlockbuster
• schlocker
• schlockfest
• schlockmeister
• schlockumentary
• schlockware
• schlocky

 

Translations

commodity that is shoddy or inferior

• French: camelote (fr) f
• Hungarian: vacak (hu), ócskaság (hu), (slang or vulgar) szarság (hu), szar (hu)
• Spanish: baratija (es) f

Further reading

• Jonathon Green (2024) “schlock n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang