chutzpah

noun

Etymology: Originated c. 1890–95 from Yiddish חוצפּה (khutspe), which was either borrowed via Medieval Hebrew or directly came from Aramaic חוּצְפָּא (ḥuṣpā, “audacity, boldness”), derived from חֲצַף (ḥăṣap̄, “to be impudent, arrogant”).

1. Nearly arrogant courage; utter audacity, effrontery or impudence; supreme self-confidence; exaggerated self-opinion.

   “If the service is rotten and the meal a disaster, we should withhold a tip and explain why we are doing so. Few of us have the chutzpah to do this.”

   “But seriously, the ability to just come out and put on a placard that the Jurassic era is temporally contiguous with the Fifth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom of Egypt — well, there’s a word for that, and that word is chutzpah.”