tzimmes

Meanings

1. 1noununcountable

   A sweet Jewish dish of carrots or other vegetables cooked slowly with dried fruit, honey, and sometimes meat.

   Grammar: Used like a mass noun: you eat tzimmes, not 'a tzimmes', when talking about the food in general.

   Patterns

   • make tzimmes
   • a plate of tzimmes

   My grandmother always made tzimmes for Rosh Hashanah, sweet with honey and prunes.

   The tzimmes cooked slowly in the oven until the carrots were soft and golden.

   He added raisins and cinnamon to the tzimmes for extra sweetness.

2. 2nounsingularinformal

   A confusing, noisy fuss or complicated situation, especially one that seems unnecessary.

   Grammar: Often used in the phrase 'make a tzimmes' or 'a whole tzimmes'; it describes an event or argument, not a physical object.

   Patterns

   • make a tzimmes about something
   • a whole tzimmes

   They made such a tzimmes about the seating arrangement that the party started late.

   Why create a whole tzimmes over a simple email?

   After all the tzimmes, the deal fell through anyway.

Word forms

Common combinations

make tzimmes

She makes tzimmes every fall with carrots and sweet potatoes.

a whole tzimmes

It turned into a whole tzimmes before anyone agreed.

sweet tzimmes

The sweet tzimmes was served alongside the main course.

carrot tzimmes

Carrot tzimmes is a traditional side dish at holiday meals.

Synonyms and how they differ

stew

A general term for a slow-cooked dish; tzimmes is more specific and usually sweet.

fuss

Use for the noisy-complaint sense; fuss is more common in everyday English, while tzimmes is informal and often Jewish-flavored.

commotion

A more formal word for a confusing disturbance; tzimmes is more playful and idiomatic.

Commonly confused: tzimmes or tsimmes?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “tzimmes”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

Explore more words