Jewish

The story

From Jew + -ish. Compare Middle English Judewissh (“Jewish”), Old English Iūdēisċ (“Jewish”), Dutch joodsch, joods (“Jewish”), German jüdisch (“Jewish”), Danish jødisk (“Jewish”), Swedish judisk (“Jewish”), Gothic 𐌾𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌹𐍅𐌹𐍃𐌺𐍃 (judaiwisks, “Jewish”). See also the piecewise doublet Yiddish.

First known use, by meaning

• 1540s Following the religion of Judaism.
• c. 1600 Greedy, miserly.