gesundheit

[guh-zoo nt-hahyt] /gəˈzʊnt haɪt/
interjection
1.
(used to wish good health, especially to a person who has just sneezed.)
Origin
1905-10, Americanism; < German: literally, health, equivalent to gesund healthy (Old High German gisunt; see sound2) + -heit -hood
British Dictionary definitions for gesundheit

gesundheit

/ɡəˈzʊnthait/
sentence substitute
1.
an expression used to wish good health to someone who has just sneezed
Word Origin
from gesund healthy + -heit-hood; see sound²
Word Origin and History for gesundheit

1914, from German Gesundheit, literally "health!" Also in toast auf ihre Gesundheit "to your health" (see sound (adj.)). Lithuanian aciu, echoic of the sound of a sneeze, has come to mean "good luck, God bless you." See also God.

gesundheit in Culture
Gesundheit [(guh-zoont-heyt)]

German for “good health.” Like the English phrase “Bless you,” it is conventionally said to someone who has just sneezed. This reflects the superstition that a sneeze can cause the soul to fly out of the body; saying the phrase prevents this from happening.