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ghetto
The definition of a ghetto is an area of a city where poor people live, with typically higher rates of crime and where racial and religious groups are discriminated against.
(noun)An example of a ghetto is South Central Los Angeles.
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See ghetto in Webster's New World College Dictionary
- in certain European cities, a section to which Jews were formerly restricted
- any section of a city in which many members of some minority group live, or to which they are restricted as by economic pressure or social discrimination
Origin: It, lit., foundry (< gettare, to pour < VL *jectare, for L jactare, to throw, cast), name of a quarter in Venice occupied by Jews, orig. location of a cannon foundry
See ghetto in American Heritage Dictionary 4
noun pl. ghet·tos or ghet·toes
- A usually poor section of a city inhabited primarily by people of the same race, religion, or social background, often because of discrimination.
- An often walled quarter in a European city to which Jews were restricted beginning in the Middle Ages.
- Something that resembles the restriction or isolation of a city ghetto: “trapped in ethnic or pink-collar managerial job ghettoes” (Diane Weathers).
Origin:
Origin: Italian
Origin: , after Ghetto, island near Venice where Jews were made to live in the 16th century
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