kike

Meaning

Noun

1. (US, ethnic, offensive, slur) A Jew.
2. (US, offensive) A miser; a contemptible, stingy person, particularly a well-endowed one.

Verb

1. (offensive, transitive, uncommon) To render something more Jewish.
2. (offensive, transitive, uncommon) To haggle or swindle in order to obtain a better deal from.

Synonyms

yid

hymie

sheeny

Israelite

Jew

jude

Moses

poor

hebe

hook-nose

jew

Yid

Yehudi

Heeb

Hebrew

Iddy

Hebe

hooknose

Isaac

Jewess

Translations

judeu

juif

youpin

ebreo

Itzig

Jude

Hebräerin

Hebräer

hebreu

Iwrit

Jid

Jud

Mauschel

Neuhebräisch

Pronounced as (IPA)

/kaɪk/

Etymology

The most dominant theory is 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, to them, represented millennia of persecution.
Other theories also exist, in particular a contraction from the documented phrase “Ikey-Kikey”, an American-origin reduplication of Ikey, which in turn is a British-English pejorative for Jews after the prevalence of the name Isaac.