[khoo
t-spuh, hoot-] 
| 1. | unmitigated effrontery or impudence; gall. |
| 2. | audacity; nerve. |
| chutz·pah also hutz·pah (KHŏŏt'spə, hŏŏt'-) n. Utter nerve; effrontery: "has the chutzpah to claim a lock on God and morality" (New York Times). [Yiddish khutspe, from Mishnaic Hebrew ḥuṣpâ, from ḥāṣap, to be insolent; see ḥṣp in Semitic roots.] |
Yiddish term for courage bordering on arrogance, roughly equivalent to “nerve” (in the slang sense): “It took a lot of chutzpah to make such a controversial statement.”