The word ''kike'' () is an
ethnic slur for a
Jew.
Etymology
The earliest recorded use of the word dates to the 1880s.
[Kim Pearson's ''Rhetoric of Race'']
by Eric Wolarsky. The College of New Jersey.
According to the ''
Oxford English Dictionary'', it may be an alteration of the endings –''ki'' or –''ky'' common in the personal names of
Jews in eastern Europe who immigrated to the
United States in the early 20th century.
A variation or expansion of this theory published in ''
Our Crowd'', by
Stephen Birmingham, postulates that the term "kike" was coined as a put-down by the assimilated U.S. Jews from Germany to identify eastern European and
Russian Jews: "Because many Russian
ewishnames ended in 'ki', they were called 'kikes'—a German Jewish contribution to the American vernacular. The name then proceeded to be co-opted by non-Jews as it gained prominence in its usage in society, and was later used as a general derogatory slur."
The ''Encyclopedia of Swearing'' suggests that
Leo Rosten's suggestion is the most likely.
He stated that:
Compounding the mysterious origin of this term, in 1864 in the UK the word ''ike'' or ''ikey'' was used as a derogatory term for Jews, which derived from the name "Isaac", a common Jewish name.
[Encyclopedia of Swearing: Social History of Oaths, Profanity, Foul Language, and Ethnic Slurs in the English Speaking World / Geoffrey Hughes. Armonk, N.Y. : M. E. Sharpe, c2006.][New Dictionary of American Slang/ edited by Robert L. Chapman. New York: Harper & Crow. c1986.]
Usage
Some sources say that the first use was on
Ellis Island as a term for Jewish people,
[The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang/ compiled by John Ayto, John Simpson. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, c2005.] others that it was used primarily by Jewish-Americans to put down Jewish immigrants.
In a travel report from 1937 for the German-Jewish publication ''
Der Morgen
''Der Morgen'' (''The Morning'') was a daily newspaper published in the GDR. ''Der Morgen'' was the central organ of the Liberal Democratic Party of Germany. It was published from 3 August 1945 on, six times a week. The premises of the first is ...
'',
Joachim Prinz, writing of the situation of Jewish immigrants in the US, mentions the word as being used by Jews to refer contemptuously to other (Eastern) Jews:
:: It is not uplifting to see how confused the perceptions are, how little the immigrants have learnt, how happy some of them are to have escaped the life of a Jew
'or:'' the Jewish fate and how haughty many of them are. It is saddening that they are very unpopular in many circles, and bewildering is the stupidity of those who contemptuously call the Eastern Jews (who support them after all!) "kikes"
€¦
See also
*
Kikeout Mountain
*
List of common nouns derived from ethnic group names
*
List of ethnic slurs
The following is a list of ethnic slurs or ethnophaulisms or ethnic epithets that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about members of a given ethnicity or racial group or to refer to them in a derogatory, pejorative, or oth ...
*
Profanity
*
Yid
The word Yid (; yi, ייִד) is a Jewish ethnonym of Yiddish origin. It is used as an autonym within the Ashkenazi Jewish community, and also used as slang by European football fans, anti-semites, and others. Its usage may be controversial in m ...
References
External links
*
{{Religious slurs
Antisemitic slurs
English words