gesundheit - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

ge·sund·heit

Audio Help [guh-zoont-hahyt] Pronunciation Key

–interjection

(used to wish good health, esp. to a person who has just sneezed.)

[Origin: 1905–10, Americanism; < G: lit., health, equiv. to gesund healthy (OHG gisunt; see sound²) + -heit -hood

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
gesundheit

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

ge·sund·heit Audio Help (gə-zŏŏnt'hīt') Pronunciation Key
interj. Used to wish good health to a person who has just sneezed.

[German, health, from Middle High German gesuntheit, from gesunt, healthy, from Old High German gisunt.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
gesundheit

1914, from Ger., lit. "health!" Also in toast auf ihre Gesundheit "to your health" (see sound (adj.)). Lith. aciu, echoic of the sound of a sneeze, has come to mean "good luck, God bless you." See also God.

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
Gesundheit [(guh-zoont-heyt)]

German for “good health.” Like the English phrase “Bless you,” it is conventionally said to someone who has just sneezed. This reflects the superstition that a sneeze can cause the soul to fly out of the body; saying the phrase prevents this from happening.

[Chapter:] Idioms

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