ghetto

[ get-oh ]

noun

, plural ghet·tos, ghet·toes.

1. a section of a city, especially a thickly populated slum area, inhabited predominantly by members of an ethnic or other minority group, often as a result of social pressures or economic hardships.
2. (formerly, in most European countries) a section of a city in which all Jews were required to live.
3. any mode of living, working, etc., that results from stereotyping or biased treatment:

   job ghettos for women; ghettos for the elderly.

adjective

1. pertaining to or characteristic of life in a ghetto or the people who live there:

   ghetto culture.

2. Slang: Often Disparaging and Offensive. noting something that is considered to be unrefined, low-class, cheap, or inferior.

ghetto

/ ˈɡɛtəʊ /

noun

1. sociol a densely populated slum area of a city inhabited by a socially and economically deprived minority
2. an area in a European city in which Jews were formerly required to live
3. a group or class of people that is segregated in some way

Word History and Origins

Origin of ghetto¹

First recorded in 1605–15; from Italian, originally the name of an island near Venice where Jews were forced to reside in the 16th century, from Venetian dialect: literally, “foundry for artillery” (giving the island its name); futher origin uncertain

Word History and Origins

Origin of ghetto¹

C17: from Italian, perhaps shortened from borghetto, diminutive of borgo settlement outside a walled city; or from the Venetian ghetto the medieval iron-founding district, largely inhabited by Jews

Example Sentences

Ivy says his scruffy beard and “menopause cardigan” make him look like a “ghetto Papa Smurf.”

From Los Angeles Times

In saluting them at the ceremony, Gordy declared that the group gave “Black kids from the ghetto a license to dream.”

From Los Angeles Times

Back then, I didn’t realize we were in the quote-unquote ghetto or in the hood or anything — I didn’t really know the difference.

From Los Angeles Times

She spoke sitting on a chair on the same railway platform where tens of thousands of Czechoslovak Jews were herded onto trains bound for the Theresienstadt ghetto.

From BBC

Following that, Richardson was ridiculed with countless racist comments calling her “hood-rat,” “ghetto” and “low-life” – often aimed at how she decided to present herself with false eyelashes, bold wigs and long, decorated nails.

From Salon