shvartzer

shvartzer

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Yiddish שוואַרצער‎ (shvartser), nominative masculine singular form of שוואַרץ‎ (shvarts, “black”).

Noun

shvartzer (plural shvartzers)

1. (chiefly US, offensive, ethnic slur) Alternative form of shvartze (masculine)
   • 1991, Steve Stern, Harry Kaplan’s Adventures Underground, New York: Ticknor & Fields, Chapter 7, pp. 123-124,

     I liked the secret disgrace of running with shvartzers, of having forbidden friends, if that’s what you want to call them.

   • 2011, Howard Jacobson, The Mighty Walzer, New York: Bloomsbury, Book 3, Chapter 2, p. 249,

     You go to Israel and you come back looking like a shvartzer and talking like Hitler.

Adjective

shvartzer (not comparable)

1. (chiefly US, offensive, ethnic slur) Alternative form of shvartze (masculine)
   • 1971, Victor Wartofsky, Meeting the Pieman, New York: John Day, Chapter , p. 21,

     The store’s right in the heart of the shvartzer area.