English Explanatory Dictionary

ghetto

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. An (often walled) area of a city in which Jews are concentrated by force and law. (Used particularly of areas in medieval Italy and in Nazi-controlled Europe.)
  2. An (often impoverished) area of a city inhabited predominantly by members of a specific nationality, ethnicity, or race.
  3. An area in which people who are distinguished by sharing something other than ethnicity concentrate or are concentrated.
  4. An isolated, self-contained, segregated subsection, area or field of interest; often of minority or specialist interest.
adj
  1. Of or relating to a ghetto or to ghettos in general.
  2. Unseemly and indecorous or of low quality; cheap; shabby, crude.
  3. Characteristic of the style, speech, or behavior of residents of a predominantly black or other ghetto in the United States.
  4. Having been raised in a ghetto in the United States.
verb
  1. To confine (a specified group of people) to a ghetto.

Pronunciation

/ˈɡɛ.təʊ/ /ˈɡɛ.toʊ/ [ˈɡɛɾoʊ̯] en-au-ghetto.ogg

Word forms

ghetto ghettos ghettoes ghetti more ghetto most ghetto ghettoing ghettoed

Etymology

Borrowed from the name of the Venetian Ghetto, whose etymology and original source language is uncertain. Compare Italian ghetto.

Synonyms

barrio bad part of town estate favela ghetto Hell's Kitchen jects projects scheme shantytown sink estate slum ivory tower

Derived words

antighetto cyberghetto gay ghetto ghetto bird ghetto blaster ghettoblaster ghetto booty ghetto butt ghetto fabulous ghetto-fabulous ghetto fence ghetto house ghettoisation ghettoise ghettoize ghettoish ghettoism ghettology ghetto lottery ghetto palm ghetto pass ghettotech hyperghetto student ghetto boughetto nonghetto

Translations

Bulgarian: гето Catalan: gueto Chinese Mandarin: 隔都 Danish: ghetto Dutch: getto Dutch: ghetto Finnish: getto Georgian: გეტო German: Getto German: Ghetto Greek: γκέτο Hungarian: gettó Italian: ghetto Lithuanian: getas Norwegian Bokmål: getto Norwegian Nynorsk: getto Polish: getto Portuguese: gueto Romanian: ghetou Russian: ге́тто Spanish: gueto Spanish: aljama Spanish: morería Spanish: barriada Swedish: getto Turkish: getto
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