Absolution: Forgiveness of an offense; a setting free from guilt or sin

Abundant: Amply supplied

Anti-Semitism: A prejudice against Jews

Aryan: A term used by the Nazis to signify the "master race" of people of northern European descent

Barrack: A building or set of buildings used especially for lodging soldiers in garrison

Bungalow: A small house or cottage, usually containing a single story

Cataract: A clouding of the lens of the eye or the surrounding transparent membrane that obstructs the passage of light

Claustrophobic: Having a fear or dread of closed spaces

Conjugate: To list the forms of a verb

Convalesce: To recover health and strength gradually after a sickness or weakness

Crematorium: An establishment containing a furnace for burning (usually bodies)

Dowry: The money, goods, or estate that a woman brings to her husband in marriage

Gefilte Fish: A ground, deboned fish recipe using a variety of kosher fish meat

Gestapo: The official secret police of Nazi Germany

Ghetto: A quarter of a city in which members of a minority group live especially because of social, legal, or economic pressure

Governess: A woman who cares for and supervises a child, especially in a private household

Marks: German currency

Meshuga: Yiddish word for "crazy" or "foolish"

Miserly: Stingy, cautious with money

Munitions: Ammunition, armaments

Naugahyde: A synthetic leather made from plastic

Nitrostat: Medicine taken for relief of angina, chest pains caused by a lack of blood flow to the heart muscle

Notary: An officer who can administer oaths and statutory declarations, witness and authenticate documents, and perform certain other official acts

Nu: A Yiddish word roughly equivalent to "so?" or "well?"

Oy Gevalt: A Yiddish expression of exasperation

Pogrom: An organized massacre of helpless people, especially of Jews

Pragmatic: Practical, as opposed to idealistic

Presumptuous: Overconfident, audacious, arrogant

Sanitarium: An institution for rest and recuperation

Schnell: A German word meaning "faster"

Sheik: An Arab chief; a man held to be irresistibly attractive to romantic young women

Shrink: A slang term for a psychiatrist

Shvartser: A Yiddish word for a black or African-American man

Textile: A woven or knit cloth; a fiber, filament, or yarn used in making cloth

Tuchus: A Yiddish word meaning "rear end"

Valentino, Rudolph: A movie star in the 1920s, one of the first great Hollywood sex symbols

Valise: A suitcase

Wehrmacht: A German word for the Nazi armed forces

Yiddish: A language written in Hebrew and spoken by Jews

Zloty: A unit of Polish currency

• Biography of Art Spiegelman
• About MAUS
• Character List
• Major Themes
• Glossary of Terms
• Short Summary
• Full Summary and Analysis
• Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapter 1
• Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapter 2
• Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapter 3
• Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapter 4
• Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapter 5
• Summary and Analysis of Book I, Chapter 6
• Summary and Analysis of Book II, Chapter 1
• Summary and Analysis of Book II, Chapter 2
• Summary and Analysis of Book II, Chapter 3
• Summary and Analysis of Book II, Chapter 4
• Summary and Analysis of Book II, Chapter 5
• Related Links on MAUS
• Suggested Essay Questions
• Questions of Genre in Maus
• Author of ClassicNote and Sources
• Purchase MAUS and Other Works
• Test Yourself! Quiz 1
• Test Yourself! Quiz 2
• Test Yourself! Quiz 3
• Test Yourself! Quiz 4
• Essays on MAUS
• Message Board on MAUS