yenta

English

Alternative forms

• yente, yentl

Etymology

Borrowed from Yiddish יענטע (yente).

Noun

yenta (plural yentas)

1. A woman who meddles in the business of others; a busybody; a female gossipmonger.

   Please don't tell your girlfriend what I said; she's a yenta!

   • 1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 201:

     And you had to marry that yenta West Side broad from a family of ward politicians and punchboard gamblers of candy-store kikes and sewer inspectors.

Anagrams

• Taney