''Sheigetz'' or ''shegetz'' (שייגעץ or in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

שֵׁיְגֶּץ; alternative

Romanization Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

s incl. ''shaygetz'', ''shaigetz'', ''sheygets'') with the alternative form ''shkotz'' (plural: ''sheygetses'' and ''shkotzim'', respectively

Philologos Philologos is an etymology column about Yiddish, Hebrew and Jewish words and phrases. It ran for 24 years in ''The Forward''; since January 2015, it has run in ''Mosaic''. It is written anonymously. Mira Sucharov of ''Canadian Jewish News'' wrote ...

(

Hillel Halkin Hillel Halkin ( he, הלל הלקין; born 1939) is an American-born Israeli translator, biographer, literary critic, and novelist, who has lived in Israel since 1970. Biography Hillel Halkin was born in New York City two months before the outb ...

),
''Sheygetz''

The Forward ''The Forward'' ( yi, פֿאָרווערטס, Forverts), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ' ...

, 21 April 2006. Accessed 10 June 2022.) is a

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

word that has entered

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

to refer to a non-

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

ish boy or young man. It may also be used by an observant Jew when referring to a non-observant Jewish man. It is often used disparagingly, although it can also be used in appreciation by semantic reversal, similar to "rascal" becoming positive when used affectionately in regard to a teenager.

Etymology

The word ''shegetz'', like its feminine counterpart

shiksa ''Shiksa'' ( yi, שיקסע, translit=shikse) is an often disparaging, although not always, term for a Gentile woman or girl. The word, which is of Yiddish origin, has moved into English usage and some Hebrew usage (as well as Polish and Germ ...

, according to the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...

'', is derived from ''sheqeṣ'' ("a detested thing").

Alternative forms

In former times, it was common practice for

Ashkenazi Jews Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

who were harassed by youths to label their tormentors ''shkotzim''. Nacham Grossbard of

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

, writing in the '' Memorial Book for the Community of

Ciechanów Ciechanów is a city in north-central Poland. From 1975 to 1998, it was the capital of the Ciechanów Voivodeship. Since 1999, it has been situated in the Masovian Voivodeship. As of December 2021, it has a population of 43,495. History The se ...

'' (1962), recounted these memories of his early years in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

: "At the finish of the match, as soon as the whistle blows, we Jewish boys run as fast as we can, out of breath, all the way home in order not to have stones thrown at us or be hit by the shkotzim (non-Jewish boys)." The form ''shkotz'' was apparently less used in Europe, leading

(

) to write that it's a

back-formation In etymology, back-formation is the process or result of creating a new word via inflection, typically by removing or substituting actual or supposed affixes from a lexical item, in a way that expands the number of lexemes associated with the c ...

that only occurred in America."shkotz"
at the Jewish English Lexicon, quoting the article ''Sheygetz'' by Philologos.

References

{{Religious slurs Pejorative terms for in-group non-members Jewish culture Yiddish words and phrases

Etymology

Alternative forms

See also

References