goy

See also: Goy, göy, gøy, and goþ

English

WOTD – 15 April 2016

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from Yiddish גוי (goy, gentile), from Hebrew גּוֹי (goi, nation).

Compare Exodus 19:6: ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש (mamlekhet kohanim wegoy qadosh, [] a kingdom of priests and a holy nation) (referring to the Jewish people). The word goy technically refers not to non-Jews, but rather to a nation per se; the Jews are said to constitute a “goy”. But through common usage – namely referring to "the [other non-Jewish] nations" – the word came to colloquially refer to non-Jews.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɡɔɪ/
    • (file)
    • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ɔɪ

Noun

goy (plural goyim or goys or goyem)

  1. (sometimes offensive) A non-Jew, a gentile.
    Synonyms: gentile, non-Jew, (pejorative) akum, (pejorative) shegetz, (pejorative) shkotz
    Hyponym: (female) shiksa
    • 1988, Anthony Burgess, Any Old Iron:
      I don’t think that marriage is working, but I’m not going to be stupid about it and say she shouldn’t have married a goy.

Usage notes

This noun is sometimes taken to be offensive; speakers wishing to avoid offense may prefer the term gentile (sometimes capitalized as Gentile) or simply non-Jew.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

Anguthimri

Noun

goy

  1. (Mpakwithi) buck wallaby

References

  • Terry Crowley, The Mpakwithi dialect of Anguthimri (1981), page 186

Ladino

Etymology

From Hebrew גוי.

Noun

goy m (Latin spelling, Hebrew spelling גוי, plural goyim, feminine goya)

  1. goy, gentile, non-Jew

Further reading

  • Aitor García Moreno, editor (2013–), “goy, yá”, in Diccionario Histórico Judeoespañol (in Spanish), CSIC
  • Aitor García Moreno, editor (2013–), “goyim”, in Diccionario Histórico Judeoespañol (in Spanish), CSIC

Portuguese

Noun

goy m or f by sense (plural goys)

  1. Alternative spelling of gói

Etymology 2

Possibly by influence from English guy, by association with gay.

Noun

goy m (plural goys)

  1. a homosexual male who does not assume himself as such; a closeted gay

References

  • "Goy" in Dicionário Informal.

Salar

Etymology

From Proto-Turkic *koń. Compare to Turkish koyun, Kazakh қой (qoi), Southern Altai кой (koy), Azerbaijani qoyun, etc.

Pronunciation

  • (Chahandusi, Qingshui, Hanbahe, Baizhuang, Mengda, Ejia, Daowei, Xunhua, Qinghai, Ili, Yining, Xinjiang) IPA(key): [qoj]
  • (Jiezi, Gaizi, Xunhua, Qinghai) IPA(key): [koj]

Noun

goy (3rd person possessive goyı, plural goylar)

  1. sheep
  • goşgur (ram)

References

  • Tenishev, Edhem (1976) “qoi”, in Stroj salárskovo jazyká [Grammar of Salar], Moscow, pages 386, 463
  • 马伟 (Ma Wei), 朝克 (Chao Ke) (2016) “qoy”, in 濒危语言——撒拉语研究 [Endangered Languages ​​- Salar Language Studies], 青海 (Qinghai): 国家社会科学基金项目 (National Social Science Foundation Project), page 263
  • Ma, Chengjun, Han, Lianye, Ma, Weisheng (December 2010) “qoy”, in 米娜瓦尔 艾比布拉 (Minavar Abibra), editor, 撒维汉词典 (Sāwéihàncídiǎn) [Salar-Uyghur-Chinese dictionary], 1st edition, Beijing, →ISBN, page 234
  • 林 (Lin), 莲云 (Lianyun) (1985) “goy”, in 撒拉语简志 [A Brief History of Salar], Beijing: 民族出版社: 琴書店, →OCLC, page 4
  • Yakup, Abdurishid (2002) “goy”, in An Ili Salar Vocabulary: Introduction and a Provisional Salar-English Lexicon, Tokyo: University of Tokyo, →ISBN, page 107

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Yiddish גוי (goy, gentile), from Hebrew גּוֹי (goi, nation).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɡoi/ [ˈɡoi̯]
  • Rhymes: -oi
  • Syllabification: goy

Noun

goy m or f by sense (plural goyim)

  1. (sometimes offensive) goy
    Synonym: gentil
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