Dictionary
Thesaurus
Encyclopedia
Translator
Web
Related Searches
Nearby Words

ghetto

 - 4 dictionary results

ghet⋅to

  [get-oh]
Use ghetto in a Sentence
–noun, plural -tos, -toes.
1. a section of a city, esp. a thickly populated slum area, inhabited predominantly by members of an ethnic or other minority group, often as a result of social or economic restrictions, pressures, or hardships.
2. (formerly, in most European countries) a section of a city in which all Jews were required to live.
3. a section predominantly inhabited by Jews.
4. any mode of living, working, etc., that results from stereotyping or biased treatment: job ghettos for women; ghettos for the elderly.
Origin:
1605–15; < It, orig. the name of an island near Venice where Jews were forced to reside in the 16th century < Venetian, lit., foundry for artillery (giving the island its name), n. deriv. of ghettare to throw < VL *jectāre; see jet 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To ghetto
ghet·to   (gět'ō)   
n.   pl. ghet·tos or ghet·toes

  1. A usually poor section of a city inhabited primarily by people of the same race, religion, or social background, often because of discrimination.

  2. An often walled quarter in a European city to which Jews were restricted beginning in the Middle Ages.

  3. Something that resembles the restriction or isolation of a city ghetto: "trapped in ethnic or pink-collar managerial job ghettoes" (Diane Weathers).


[Italian, after Ghetto, island near Venice where Jews were made to live in the 16th century.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Slang Dictionary
ghetto

  1. mod.
    super; cool. (Streets.) : He called the iced out pimp 100 percent ghetto.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

ghetto 
1611, from It. ghetto "part of a city to which Jews are restricted," various theories of its origin include: Yiddish get "deed of separation;" special use of Venetian getto "foundry" (there was one near the site of that city's ghetto in 1516); Egitto "Egypt," from L. Aegyptus (presumably in memory of the exile); or It. borghetto "small section of a town" (dim. of borgo, of Gmc. origin, see borough). Extended 1892 to crowded urban quarters of other minority groups. Ghetto-blaster "large portable stereo" is from 1982.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Search another word or see ghetto on Thesaurus | Reference
FacebookTwitterFollow us:
Partner Sites:
Ask AnswersEviteExpediaHotelsHotwireLife123LiveDailyMy Way