goy

See also: Goy, göy, gøy, and goþ

English

WOTD – 15 April 2016

Alternative forms

• Goy
• goi, Goi

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/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔɪ

Noun

goy (plural goyim or goys or goyem)

1. A non-Jew, a gentile. (See usage notes)

   Synonyms: akum, gentile, shegetz, 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

• anti-goy
• antigoyism
• anti-goyish
• goyish
• shabbos goy

Translations

non-Jew

• Albanian: jo-hebre m
• Arabic: أَغْيَار‎ m (ʾaḡyār), جُوي‎ m (jūy)
• Catalan: Goy
• Czech: gój (cs) m
• Danish: ikke-jøde c
• Dutch: niet-Jood (nl), goj (nl)
• Esperanto: gojo (eo), nejudo (eo)
• French: goy (fr) m, goï (fr) m, gentil (fr) m
• German: Goi (de) m, Goj m, Nichtjude (de) m
• Hebrew: גּוֹי‎ (he) m (goi)

• Hungarian: gój (hu)
• Italian: Goy m
• Persian: گوی‎ (fa) (gowy)
• Polish: Goj m
• Portuguese: goy (pt) m or f, gói (pt) m or f
• Russian: гой (ru) m (goj)
• Spanish: goy m
• Swedish: goj (sv) c
• Yiddish: גוי‎ m (goy)

Anagrams

• ygo

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Anguthimri

Noun

goy

1. (Mpakwithi) buck wallaby

References

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

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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

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Portuguese

Etymology 1

Noun

goy m, f (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 homossexual male who does not assume himself as such; gay

References

• "Goy" in Dicionário Informal.