kike
English
Etymology
Thought to be from Yiddish קײַקל (kaykl, “circle”). In the early 20th century, Non-English-speaking Jews that immigrated to the United States would sign papers with a circle as opposed to a more common X. The latter symbol was associated by these Jews with the Christian cross, a symbol that represented to them millennia of persecution.[1] This is the dominant etymological theory, but there are others.[2]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kaɪk/
Audio (RP) (file)
- Rhymes: -aɪk
Noun
kike (plural kikes)
- (US, offensive, ethnic slur, religious slur) A Jew.
- 1922, Sinclair Lewis, “24”, in Babbitt:
- "Now you quit kidding me! What's the nice little name?" "Oh, it ain't so darn nice. I guess it's kind of kike. But my folks ain't kikes. My papa's papa was a nobleman in Poland, and there was a gentleman in here one day, he was kind of a count or something--"
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- (US, offensive) A miser; a contemptible, stingy person, particularly a well-endowed one.
- Synonym: see Thesaurus:miser
- That greedy kike would not give me any money when I was starving and needed food.
Translations
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References
- Rosten, Leo (1968) The Joys of Yiddish, New York: Pocket Books Cited in Kim Pearson (2003), “kike”, in kpearson.faculty.tcnj.edu, archived from the original on 2008-06-02, retrieved 3 June 2016
- Kim Pearson (2003), “kike”, in kpearson.faculty.tcnj.edu, archived from the original on 2008-06-02, retrieved 3 June 2016
Norwegian Bokmål
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle Low German kîken. Related to Swedish kika.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /çiːke/, [çiːkə]
Verb
kike (imperative kik, present tense kiker, past tense keik or kek, past participle kiket, present participle kikende)
Related terms
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology
From Middle Low German kiken.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /²çiːkə/
Verb
kike (present tense kik or kikar, past tense keik or kika, supine kike, past participle kiken or kika, present participle kikande, imperative kik)
Related terms
Swahili
Pronunciation
Audio (Kenya) (file)