A PSM idiom is a word or phrase from a (usually foreign) language that becomes spelled and pronounced like common words of the target language but retains the semantics of its source. After formation, such idioms may become translated to other languages.

1. Idioms via PSM ‒
Phono-Semantic Matching
by
Israel “Izzy” Cohen

2. Definition of PSM
Idiom formation via Phono-Semantic Matching (PSM)
refers to a (usually foreign) source word or phrase
that becomes matched with a phonetically similar
existing native word or phrase which then becomes
an idiom with the meaning of the source expression.

3. Venn Diagram
PSM Idioms
involve the
conversion
of a foreign
expression
with similar
pronunciation
(blue) and
spelling
(yellow) but
a different
meaning (not rose) to existing words of the target language
(olive) whose new meaning is that of the foreign source.

4. Symbolic Notation
The slides use these symbols:
Ls = source language
Lt = target language
Lo = other language
‫ת‬  = translated ‫ם‬ֵ‫ג‬ ְ‫ר‬ ַ‫ת‬
‫צ‬  = transliterated ‫יל‬ ִ‫ל‬ ְ‫צ‬

5. 7 Pattern Types
Type A: Ls ‫צ‬ Ls
Type B: Ls ‫צ‬ Lt
Type C: Lt ‫צ‬ Lo ‫ת‬ Lt
Type D: Lt ‫ת‬ Lo ‫צ‬ Lt
Type E: Lt ‫ת‬ {Lo ‫צ‬ Lo} ‫ת‬ Lt
Type F: Lt ‫ת‬ {Lo ‫צ‬ Lo} ‫צ‬ + ‫ת‬ Lt
Type G: [Lt ‫צ‬𝟏 Lo ‫ת‬1 Lt] +
[Lt ‫צ‬2 Lo ‫ת‬2 or ‫צ‬3 Lt]

6. Type A: Ls ‫צ‬ Ls
by/with the skin of my teeth This idiom
is in Job 19:20 ‫ה‬ ָ‫ט‬ ְ‫ל‬ ַ‫מ‬ ְ‫ת‬ ֶ‫ָא‬‫ו‬,‫ָי‬‫נ‬ ִ‫ש‬ ‫עֹור‬ ְ‫ב‬
and I escaped by the skin of my teeth

7. Type A: Ls ‫צ‬ Ls (continued)
beat the livin’ daylights outta ya The "liver" is
the most dense body part and "lights" was an Old
English word for lungs, the least dense body part.

8. Type B: Ls ‫צ‬ Lt
Count sheep! (to help one go to sleep)
Latin sopor quies (deep sleep
+ quiet) was transliterated to
Hebrew SPoR KeVeS ‫כבש‬ ‫ספור‬
which was then translated to
English Count sheep! Compare
soporific, quiet and quiescent.

9. Type C: Lt ‫צ‬ Lo ‫ת‬ Lt
Example: British usage of the adjective bloody
instead of “damn.”
Damn!  ‫ם‬ ָ‫ד‬  blood + y

10. Type D: Lt ‫ת‬ Lo ‫צ‬ Lt
White rabbit, white rabbit, white rabbit
Month  ‫ש‬ ֶ‫חֹוד‬ Multiply  ‫רבֹות‬
het = W  shin = T 
white rabbit

11. Type E: Lt ‫ת‬ {Lo ‫צ‬ Lo} ‫ת‬ Lt
Mooning
Buttocks  ‫ך‬ ֵ‫ָר‬‫י‬

ַ‫ח‬ ֵ‫ָר‬‫י‬  moon + ing
The word you do not want to
say (buttocks) was translated
to Hebrew YaRayKH ‫ך‬ ֵ‫ָר‬‫י‬ which
was transliterated to Hebrew
YaRay’akH ַ‫ח‬ ֵ‫ָר‬‫י‬ which was
translated to English moon +
ing to form the verb mooning.

12. Type F: Lt ‫ת‬ {Lo ‫צ‬ Lo} ‫צ‬ + ‫ת‬ Lt
Blessing  ‫ָה‬‫כ‬ ָ‫ר‬ ְ‫ב‬  ‫ך‬ ֶ‫ר‬ ֶ‫ב‬
 
Break a leg
This type also involves transliteration inside
another language. The input/output to that
process is transliterated and its output is
translated to the target language.

13. Type G: [Lt ‫צ‬𝟏 Lo ‫ת‬1 Lt] +
[Lt ‫צ‬2 Lo ‫ת‬2 or ‫צ‬3 Lt]
Skeleton in the closet.
‫ת‬ ֶ‫סגֶר‬ ִ‫מ‬  secret  ‫ת‬ ֶ‫גֶר‬ ֻ‫ס‬ ְ‫ּומ‬ ‫ת‬ ֶ‫גֶר‬ֹ‫ס‬
 ‫ג‬ > K/C, ‫ר‬ > L  Joshua 6:1
skeleton (in the) closet
Giving the gimel a K-sound and rotating resh to L
indicates that miSGeReT & SKeLeTon are cognates
soGeReS & CLoSet are near homonyms with a
semantic connection of “closure.”

14. Additional Type B: Ls  PSM  Lt idioms
(Raining) cats and dogs
< ‫שק‬ ‫גשם‬ ‫מבול‬'‫ע‬
Cat out (of the) bag
< Talmudic ‫קושתא‬‫בגד‬
Axe to grind < German
Acht/achtung + Grund

15. When you enter phrases into the Google Books Ngram
Viewer, a graph shows how those phrases occur in a
corpus of books (e.g., American English, British English)
over the selected years. The URL for the Ngram viewer is
https://books.google.com/ngrams

16. Additional Type B: Ls  PSM  Lt idioms
(Left) holding the bag
< ‫ה‬ ָ‫יד‬ ִ‫ג‬ ְּ‫הב‬ ‫ין‬ ִ‫לש‬ ַ‫ה‬
Spill the beans
< ‫ר‬ֵ‫פ‬ ַ‫ס‬ + ‫ָה‬‫נ‬‫י‬ ִ‫ב‬
doesn’t know beans about
< ‫ָה‬‫נ‬‫י‬ ִ‫ב‬
Face the music < Yiddish maskone <
Hebrew ‫ָה‬‫נ‬ ָ‫ק‬ ְּ‫ס‬ ַ‫מ‬ (consequence) or a
reversal of exam = eKSaM > MuSiC

17. Additional Type B: Ls  PSM  Lt idioms
Kick the bucket
< ‫ן‬ ָ‫ד‬ ִ‫בע‬ ‫גֹוב‬ֲ‫ע‬
= make love in Eden
Hair of the dog that bit you
< ‫ר‬ ַ‫ע‬ ֵ‫ש‬ ‫ך‬ ָ‫נש‬ ִ‫מ‬ ‫ב‬ ֶ‫ֶל‬‫כ‬ <
Latin Saccharomyces cerevisiae
= Brewer's yeast

18. SHeTZeF QeTZeF ‫ף‬ֶׁ‫צ‬ֶׁ‫ק‬ ‫ף‬ֶׁ‫צ‬ ֶׁ‫ש‬ ‒ Isaiah 54:8
‫ף‬ֶ‫צ‬ ֶ‫ק‬ ‫ף‬ֶ‫צ‬ ֶ‫ש‬ is translated as “a little wrath” by JPS.
‫ף‬ ַ‫א‬ is a homonym that means both nose & anger
• With ‫ש‬ = D/T, ‫צ‬ = S and ‫פ‬ = P at the beginning
of a word, ‫ף‬ֶ‫צ‬ ֶ‫ש‬reverses to PiSSeD + ‫אף‬  oFF
• Putting a chip ‫צ׳פ‬ on his shoulder ‫ף‬ ֵ‫ָת‬‫כ‬  ‫ף‬ֶ‫צ‬ ֶ‫ק‬
• Reversing the KT in ‫ף‬ ַ‫א‬ ‫ף‬ֶ‫צ‬ ֶ‫ק‬ produces TicKS oFF
• ‫ף‬ֶ‫צ‬ ֶ‫ק‬  GeTS uP + ‫ף‬ ַ‫א‬ = nose  gets up my nose
The homonym ‫ק‬ ָ‫ב‬ ָ‫א‬ means both dust & anger.
‫ק‬ ָ‫ב‬ ָ‫א‬  dust + ‫אף‬  up = a “dust up” or quarrel

19. ‫ק‬ ‫ניט‬ ‫מיר‬ ‫האק‬''‫טשייניק‬ ‫ן‬
Hak mir nit keyn tshainik means Stop bothering me!
“Hak nit” sounds like the Hebrew verb ‫יט‬ִ‫נ‬ ְ‫ק‬ ַ‫ה‬ ְ‫ל‬
meaning “tease, provoke, annoy, irritate, vex.”
Moving "nit" to the end of
"keyn" also produces the
KNT sound of "haknit."
Reversing hak nit  ‫טינקה‬
produces TaiNiKa. It morphs
to tshainik = Teakettle.