shad•khan

or shad•chan

(ˈʃɑt xən)

n., pl. shad•kha•nim (ʃɑtˈxɔ nɪm)
shad•khans.

a Jewish marriage broker.

[1890–95; Yiddish shatkhn < Hebrew shadhkhān, derivative of shiddēkh arrange a marriage]

References in periodicals archive

I might add that her tradition requires a shadkhan (matchmaker); his does not.

The Marriage Plot: Or, How Jews Fell in Love with Love, and with Literature

"It's true, the shadkhan did tell me that you were married twice; but I assumed that you were widowed once and once divorced.

The Diamond Necklace

Ricca's father Gerson was a banker and a one-time Roman fattore; Ricca's exercise of will in accepting a marital partner had led her into neither the byways of marrying down nor into the "mad passion" that so many still considered romance to be.(124) No doubt, a matchmaker, a shadkhan, usually gifted with many wiles, was likely involved.(125) But it was probably Ricca herself who initiated this second match, which resulted in a marriage that lasted over a generation.

Marriages are made in heaven: marriage and the individual in the Roman Jewish ghetto

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