Shtick

//ʃtɪk// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A generally humorous routine.

    "Sally Marr: Lenny [Bruce] used to do a shtick between strippers. / The Interviewer: What kind of stick? / Sally Marr: No, it's shtick, darling, shtick."

  2. 2
    (Yiddish) a devious trick; a bit of cheating wordnet
  3. 3
    A characteristic trait or theme, especially in the way people or media present themselves.

    "I'm never ever gonna quit 'cause / Quittin' just ain't my shtick"

  4. 4
    (Yiddish) a prank or piece of clowning wordnet
  5. 5
    A gimmick.
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    (Yiddish) a contrived and often used bit of business that a performer uses to steal attention wordnet
  2. 7
    (Yiddish) a little; a piece wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
actafterpiecebitchaserconcerncurtain

Example

More examples

"Pretending to be surprised is his shtick."

Etymology

Borrowed from Yiddish שטיק (shtik, “shtick, act, piece”). Cognate with German Stück, Dutch stuk. Doublet of shtuka, steck, and styca.

Related phrases

get one's shtick together

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.