goy

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. (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

• 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, 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

---

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 homossexual male who does not assume himself as such; gay

References

• "Goy" in Dicionário Informal.

---

Salar

Etymology 1

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

Related terms

• goşgur (“ram”)

References

• Tenishev, Edhem (1976), “qoi”, in Stroj salárskovo jazyká [Grammar of Salar], Moscow, page 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 17467570, 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

Verb

goy

1. to put