tush

[rass]

from whence does the term `tush' derive?
i presume it is american slang although it could be
yiddish? is it's useage euphemistic or intended
to be insulting etc?

[heathfield]

If you mean t-uh-sh, it's from 'tosh', which is from 'bosh' which means 'nonsense', from the Turkish word 'bosh' meaning 'empty'.

If you mean 'toosh', it's a corruption of the Yiddish 'tokhes', itself drived from one of the Hebrew words for 'buttocks'

[rass]

thanks Heathfield.
you got to the `bottom' of it for me !

[Kingaroo]

As I've heard it in the eastern US where there are a fair amount of people familiar with Yiddish, it's fairly polite, not insulting, rather like "fanny" or "behind" or "bottom." You might use it with a child, but it's not baby talk unless you say "tushie."