Jewish

Etymology

It is formed from English Jew + -ish.^[2][3][4][5] Jew is from Anglo-Norman jeu, also giu and giu,^[2][3] from Latin Iūdaeus,^[2][3][4][6] from Ancient Greek Ἰουδαῖος (Ioudaîos),^[1][3][4][6] which goes back through Aramaic^[2][3][4] to the name of Judah, Biblical Hebrew יְהוּדָה (yəhûḏâ).^[1][3][6] English had earlier formations with the same suffix: Old English had Iūdēisc,^[3][5] continued in early Middle English as Jūdēish, and the Ormulum has Judewish.^[7][2][3] Similar formations are Dutch joodsch, Old High German judeisk, German jüdisch and Danish jödisk.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or relating to Jews or Judaism: about 1531, in R. Barnes's Supplication to Henry VIII.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates it to 1546,^[8] Etymonline to the 1540s^[3] and Dictionary.com to 1540–50.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The OED records the older Jūdēish as an adjective until about 1300.^[2] The main sense has stayed the same, and it also describes a person who is a Jew.^[2][8] From about 1600 the word also had a derogatory use based on a stereotype of extortionate moneylending; the OED and the Shorter Oxford label it offensive.^[2][4][3] Green's Dictionary of Slang records further slang uses resting on a negative or racial stereotype, among them a South African one for smart, expensive clothing.^[9] Etymonline reports that an early 20th-century campaign against the offensive verb from Jew was so successful that people also began to avoid the noun and adjective and to say Hebrew instead.^[3] As a noun, Jewish is a less common word for Yiddish.^[6][8]

Timeline

• c. 1175 – the earlier forms Jūdēish and Judewish.^[2][7]
• c. 1531 – of or relating to Jews or Judaism.^[2]
• 1606 – a derogatory sense based on a stereotype, labelled offensive.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, relating to or characteristic of Jews or Judaism.^[8][6][2]
2. Being a Jew.^[8][2]
3. (derogatory, offensive) A use based on a stereotype about money, labelled offensive by the dictionaries that record it.^[2][4]

Noun

1. Yiddish; a less common name for the language.^[6][8]

Word family

• Jewishly
• Jewishness
• anti-Jewish
• non-Jewish
• pro-Jewish

Related words

• Jew
• Judaism
• Judah
• Yiddish

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
8. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com