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unkosher

unkosher

8.2
Food that Jewish law does not allow you to eat
  • adjective
  • /ʌnˈkoʊʃər/
translation icon : no kosher

Examples

  • Salinger's father, Solomon, was the son of a rabbi, an importer of cheese and meats - very unkosher.

  • OH, WELL, I THANK YOU, GENTILE FRIEND, FOR YOUR GENEROUS OFFER OF THAT DELICIOUSLY UNKOSHER SNACK.

  • All of my aunts and uncles have gathered here to watch my father roll and place each slice of meat on a platter, a flesig platter that has never held unkosher meat, and that's what I say, hardly realizing I'm speaking out loud.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • I can't eat that sandwich because it contains unkosher meat.

  • The restaurant was criticized for serving unkosher dishes during the holiday.

  • Eating unkosher food goes against the dietary laws observed by many Jewish families.

Synonyms

nonkosher
vsunkosher
8.1

Food or dishes not allowed by Jewish food rules

has identical meaning but uses a different word form or spelling
terefah
vsunkosher
  • Specialized
9.9

Food that does not follow Jewish religious rules about what you can eat

has identical meaning but uses a longer traditional or formal word form
tref
vsunkosher
  • Jargon
9.9

Food not allowed by Jewish religious rules

has identical meaning but is a shortened or variant spelling form

Antonyms

47 5.1

Food made or kept according to Jewish rules about which foods people may eat

Surface Forms

unkosher positive

Morphology

unkosher = kosher (transparent) = un + kosher

Meaning is directly the negative of 'kosher' using the productive English negation prefix 'un-'; the food-specific meaning is straightforward.

Etymology

Unkosher is made from un- 'not' and kosher, which comes from Hebrew kasher meaning 'fit' or 'proper' for food. So unkosher means food that is 'not fit' to eat under Jewish law.