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gesundheit

 - 4 dictionary results

ge⋅sund⋅heit

  [guh-zoont-hahyt]
Use gesundheit in a Sentence
–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 sound 2 ) + -heit -hood
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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ge·sund·heit   (gə-zŏŏnt'hīt')   
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.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Cultural Dictionary

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.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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