kike

See also: Kike and kiké

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/
    • (file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪk

Noun

kike (plural kikes)

  1. (US, offensive, ethnic slur, religious slur) A Jew.
    Synonyms: (not always pejorative) yid, heeb, hymie, sheeny, shylock
    • 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--"
  2. (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

References

  1. 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
  2. Kim Pearson (2003), “kike”, in kpearson.faculty.tcnj.edu, archived from the original on 2008-06-02, retrieved 3 June 2016

Further reading

Anagrams


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)

  1. to look
  2. to glance
  3. to peek, peep
  4. to peer
  5. to gaze

References


Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

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)

  1. to look
  2. to glance
  3. to peek,
  4. to peer
  5. to gaze

References

“kike” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.


Swahili

Pronunciation

  • (file)

Adjective

-a kike (invariable)

  1. feminine, female
    Antonym: -a kiume
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