kike
Meaning
-
- A Jew.
- A miser; a contemptible, stingy person, particularly a well-endowed one.
Synonyms
Frequency
Pronounced as (IPA)
/kaɪk/
Etymology
Thought to be from Yiddish קײַקל (kaykl, “circle”). In the early 20th century, non-English-speaking Jews that immigrated to the United States would sign papers with a circle as opposed to a more common X. The latter symbol was associated by these Jews with the Christian cross, a symbol that represented to them millennia of persecution. This is the dominant etymological theory, but there are others, in particular a contraction from the documented phrase ‘Ikey-Kikey’, an American-origin reduplication of Ikey, British-English pejorative for Jews after the prevalence of the name Isaac.
Bookmark this
Improve your pronunciation
Write this word
Start learning English with learnfeliz.
Practice speaking and memorizing "kike" and many other words and sentences in English.
Go to our English course page
Notes