yahrzeit

• jahrzeit, yartzeit, yartseit, yortseit, yortsayt, yahrtzeit

From Yiddish יאָרצײַט‎ (yortsayt). Cognate to German Jahreszeit (“season”), which heavily influenced the spelling and pronunciation once the word was borrowed into English.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈjɑɹ.tsaɪt/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈjɑː.tsaɪt/

yahrzeit (plural yahrzeits)

1. (Judaism) The anniversary of a person's death, often of a parent's.
   • 1892 February, “The Jews in New York--II.”, in The Century Magazine‎, volume 43, number 4, page 516:

     "Yahrzeit" (year's time) is the anniversary of the parent's death.

   • 1930 August 1, Leon Spitz, “Tisha b'Ab-The Yahrzeit of Every Jew”, in The Canadian Jewish Chronicle‎, page 1:

     Sad to say, the Yahrzeit of every-Jew is fading away from the memory of the average Jew in America.

   • 2002 September 2, Leon Wieseltier, “A Year Later”, in The New Republic‎:

     The yahrzeit is here, and the least lachrymose country on earth is devising its rituals of commemoration.

   • 2016 August 10, Irwin Cohen, “Hank Greenberg’s 30th Yahrzeit”, in The Jewish Press‎:

     Let’s remember Hank Greenberg’s yahrzeit, the 30th of Av, which falls this year on Sept. 3.

• deathday