Pustekuchen

German

Etymology

Early 20th century, originally Berlin slang. By surface analysis, pusten (“to blow”) +‎ Kuchen (“cake, pie”). The word Kuchen on its own is already attested with the same sense in thieves' cant (Rotwelsch) since 1818, and likely goes back to Yiddish חכם (khokhem, “wise or cunning man”), used here with a sense along the lines of “you wise guy!” or “you trickster!”. The first component may be Yiddish פּשוט (poshet, “simply”), but this appears less conclusive. It may also be merely the verb pusten in the sense “to exhale/snort dismissively”; compare the expression jemandem etwas pusten/husten (“to refuse outright”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpuːstəˌkuːxən/

• Audio:

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Interjection

Pustekuchen!

1. (colloquial) no way!, not gonna happen!, forget about it!

   Du könntest mich doch abholen… — Ja, Pustekuchen! Nimm dir mal schön ’n Taxi!

   I thought you might come fetch me… — No chance! Just go and take a taxi!

References

• Wolfgang Pfeifer, editor (1993), “Pustekuchen”, in Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen (in German), 2nd edition, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN

Further reading

• “Pustekuchen” in Duden online