Pronunciations
| mechuten | (muh-KHUU-tn) | listen |
Definitions
n. A member of one's spouse's extended family.
n. One's son- or daughter-in-law's father.
n. The grandfather of one's grandchild's spouse.
Example Sentences
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"My daughter married his son, so he's my mekhutn."
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"We'll need to make sure we order enough food for twelve people. We have our son, his wife, along with the machatunim."
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"The relationship [with the machatunim] is awkward because its starting point is not a relaxed conversation about news, weather and sports, but rather about business – who pays for what?" (source)
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"My daughter just got engaged. I guess I have to invite the machetunim over for dinner soon." (JPS)
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"My mechutanim are coming all the way from Zurich for the bris." (Glinert)
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Languages of Origin
- Textual Hebrew
- Yiddish
Etymology
TH מחותן mechutan > Y מחותּן mekhutn
- Older: Jews who are middle-aged and older
- Ashkenazim: Jews with Ashkenazi heritage
- North America
- Great Britain
- South Africa
- The New Joys of Yiddish, by Leo Rosten and Lawrence Bush (New York, 2003[1968]).
- Yiddish and English: A Century of Yiddish in America, by Sol Steinmetz (Tuscaloosa, 1986).
- The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001).
- The Joys of Hebrew, by Lewis Glinert (New York, 1992).
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Who Uses This
Regions
Dictionaries
Alternative Spellings
mehuten, mekhutan, mekhuten, mechutun, mechutn, mekhutun, mechutan, mekhutn, mehutan, mehutun, mehutn, mechoten, mechotn
Notes
plural: 'mechutonim', 'machutonim', 'machetunim', or 'mechutanim'
See also mechuteneste.
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