Jeez

How to spell jeez

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce jeez

What does jeez mean?

1. interjectionA mild exclamation expressing surprise, annoyance, or disbelief, used as a softened substitute for swearing.

Jeez in a sentence

• Jeez, the traffic on the motorway was bumper to bumper for an hour.

• Jeez, I cannot believe the repair bill came to nearly a thousand pounds.

Where does jeez come from?

Language of origin: Other

Jeez is a mild American exclamation that first appears in print in the early twentieth century, around the 1920s. It is a euphemistic clipping of the name 'Jesus', deliberately shortened and altered so that a speaker could express shock, exasperation, or surprise without uttering the holy name directly. This habit of softening a sacred or taboo word into a harmless-sounding substitute is called a minced oath, and English has many such forms, including 'gee', 'gosh' for God, and 'cripes' which also disguises Christ. The spelling 'jeez' captures the long 'ee' sound that survives from the first syllable of 'Jesus', which is why it is written with a double 'e' rather than the 'ea' some writers wrongly reach for. Because it began as casual speech rather than formal writing, its spelling stayed phonetic and simple.

How the word is built

• jeez (a clipped euphemism, shortened from the name 'Jesus')