Jewish

comparative Jewisher · comparative more Jewish · superlative Jewishest · superlative most Jewish · alternative derogatory humorous Jooish · alternative derogatory humorous Juish · alternative derogatory humorous juish

1. Following the religion of Judaism.First known use 1540s

   There are many Jewish people in France.

   1 more example

   Kaplan-Miller said she first joined the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, an interfaith organization that was founded by a Muslim and a Jewish woman in suburban New Jersey, shortly after the 2016 election.

   2023 November 22, Brammhi Balarajan, “US interfaith communities draw on decades-long bonds to navigate Israel-Hamas War”, in CNN

   Synonyms: Judaic · Antonyms: gentile, goyish, non-Jewish, un-Jewish

2. Of or relating to Jews, their ethnicities or cultures.

   I tried some traditional Jewish food yesterday.

   2 more examples

   The notion of blood purity was first elaborated in Europe, where it was used to separate Old Christians from Spain’s New Christians—women and men of Jewish and Muslim origin whose ancestors had converted to Christianity.

   2009, Irene Silverblatt, “Foreword”, in Andrew B. Fisher, Matthew D. O'hara, editors, Imperial Subjects: Race and Identity in Colonial Latin America, page xi

   As per the old Jewish joke “ask two Jews, get three opinions”, there’s room on this seven-strong bill (plus [Hannah] Gadsby) for at least that many different perspectives on gender – including some impish scepticism from Canadian comic DeAnne Smith, who complains about “getting they/them’d against my will since 2005”.

   2023 October 13, Brian Logan, “‘We’re all learning’: why Netflix needs Hannah Gadsby’s Gender Agenda”, in The Guardian

   Synonyms: heebish, Israelite, Jew, Jewy, kikeish, kikey, Yiddish · Antonyms: gentile, goyish, non-Jewish, un-Jewish

3. datedderogatoryoffensiveGreedy, miserly.First known use c. 1600

   "Vanity!" ſays ſhe, haughtily, "What is vanity in you, ſir, is propriety in me. You aſk a Jewiſh price for it, Mr. Graves; but have it I will, if only to ſpite Mr. Eſmond."

   1852, William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. […] , volume III, London: […] Smith, Elder, & Company, […], →OCLC, page 155

4. Yiddish.

   1 more example

   The roots of American Jewry are not in the Middle East but in Europe—their Jewish style, their strong Jewish words, their strong nostalgia, their actual, weighable history, all this issues from their European origins. Grandpa did not hail from Haifa—he was a Jewish humanist, a spiritual, believing Jew, who complained not in an antique tongue called Hebrew but in colorful, rich, vernacular Yiddish.

   1993, Philip Roth, Operation Shylock, page 47

plural Jewishes

1. proscribednon-native speakers' EnglishA Jew.

   The Statue of Liberty. A French gift with a poem made by a Jewish.

   2022 November 26, ArgieSocDem, Twitter, archived from the original on 09 Dec 2022

1. informalproscribedThe Hebrew language.

   I can't speak Jewish; I can't even understand it.

   quoted in 1947, William Lloyd Warner, Leo Srole, The Social Systems of American Ethnic Groups (page 232)

2. informalproscribedThe Yiddish language.

   We believe that although he speaks Jewish, he speaks Russian quite badly and pretentiously.

   2005 November 17, John Doyle Klier, Imperial Russia's Jewish Question, 1855-1881, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 57

   2 more examples

   After a day servicing commercial refrigeration through the five boroughs, Dad would bring home a story of a Chinese waiter on Second Avenue who “speaks Jewish like a Galitzianer,” or of a Mafioso in a Queens fruit market who “has such yiddisher taam, I call him Rabbi Zino.”

   2009, Martin S. Jaffee, The End of Jewish Radar: Snapshots of a Postethnic American Judaism, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 115

   A Jew wearing a cap with a visor and a red scarf around his neck is answering a Jewish woman who has addressed him in Polish: “One speaks Jewish aboard the Jewish tram”. Another butts in: “What about in Hebrew?” “In Hebrew as well”. […] The Jews in Wereszczyn spoke Jewish amongst themselves, and Polish with us. They had their own Jewish accent, but they had a pretty good grasp of the Polish language.

   2012 August 6, Ewa Kurek, Polish-Jewish Relations 1939-1945: Beyond the Limits of Solidarity, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 215