Where does tchotchke come from?

Although tchotchke is borrowed from the Yiddish term tshatshke, it comes from the obsolete Polish word czaczko, which had the same meaning. Similar terms were found in several European languages. But today tchotchke is primarily an American word. It is first recorded in English in the 1960s.

Tchotchkes typically don’t serve a function other than being something nice to look at—they’re usually made to be displayed. They’re the inexpensive, little knickknacks that clutter up desks and collect on mantels and bookshelves: the decorative trinkets they sell at gift shops, like tiny animal figurines, souvenir spoons and thimbles, and pop culture bobbleheads.

The term can trace its origin back to words that referred to “pretty little things,” and in Yiddish that sense is sometimes extended to refer to an attractive young woman, somewhat similar to the word cutie.