MESHUGA

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 28 July 2011

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MESHUGA  (adj.)

Definition(s):

1. (adj.) crazy, foolish, senseless

Useful information for game players:

• Front hooks: (none)
• Back hooks: -H
• Anagrams: (none)
• Longer extensions: (none)
• Wraparounds: (none)
• Other Spellings: MESHUGAH, MESHUGGA, MESHUGGAH, MESHUGGE, MESHUGAAS, MISHEGAAS, MISHEGOSS
• Related Forms: MESHUGGENER (n. pl. -S)

Epilogue:
You might go a little MESHUGA trying to remember all the spellings of this word.  It comes from Yiddish, a rich and colorful language traditionally spoken by Jews in Europe and America and influenced heavily by Hebrew and German.  It probably derives ultimately from the Hebrew shugga ("to be driven mad"), and, like many words from this language, has multiple spellings due to having undergone TRANSLITERATION ("the representation of letters or words in the characters of another alphabet or script") from the Hebrew alphabet.  The only form in the Scrabble word list considered to be a noun is MESHUGGENER, "a crazy person."

This week’s theme: Words starting with the letter M

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