shtick

noun

ˈshtik 

variants or less commonly schtick or shtik

1

: a usually comic or repetitious performance or routine : bit

2

: one's special trait, interest, or activity : bag

he's alive and well and now doing his shtick out in Hollywood

—Robert Daley

shticky

ˈshti-kē 

adjective

Synonyms

• act
• bit
• number
• routine
• turn

Examples of shtick in a Sentence

That joke is part of his shtick.

Sports are just not my shtick.

Recent Examples on the Web

The new clip — gloriously narrated with cheeky bravado by Alan Cumming — finds Hilton and Richie doing a bit of their old Simple Life shtick, picking up odd jobs like a shift at Sonic or serving as guides on a Hollywood tour bus. —Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 4 Dec. 2024

The Murakami shtick is on full display in The City and Its Uncertain Walls. —Bailey Trela, Vulture, 19 Nov. 2024

The Canyon Crest bear may have a shtick calibrated for social media stardom, but there’s plenty of competition among the Southland’s cast of charismatic — and potentially dangerous — wild animals. —Daniel Miller, Los Angeles Times, 26 May 2024

Sad fact is: Rock’s stand-up comedy shtick relies on black self-abasement (letting his white audience hear how blacks secretly deprecate themselves). —Armond White, National Review, 23 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Yiddish shtik pranks, literally, piece, from Middle High German stücke, from Old High German stucki; akin to Old English stycce piece, Old High German stoc stick — more at stock entry 1

First Known Use

1959, in the meaning defined at sense 1