Meanings
plural Judensterns
- countablehistoricalA yellow badge forced upon ordinary Jews (and many legally ‘Jewish’ people) in Western Axis states.First known use 20th c.
For the exiled black man who had to bear his skin — the symbol of rejection — like a "Judenstern," there could be no escape.
1970, Barend van Dyk Van Niekerk, The African Image (Négritude) in the Work of Léopold Sédar Senghor, Balkema (A.A.), page 1072 more examples
A yellow Star of David—a Judenstern, as the Germans called it—with the word “Jude” embroidered in the center was on the left side of her coat just below her collar bone..
2011 March 18, Ingrid U. Cowan, The Shadow of the Hakenkreuz, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 3Therefore, Jews had to walk wherever they tried to go, although the wearing of a “Judenstern” or Jewish star on every outer garment was enforced at pain of death.
2014 April 1, Gerhard Falk, The German Jews in America: A Minority within a Minority, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, →ISBN, page 46Synonyms: yellow star
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA yellow badge forced upon ordinary Jews (and many legally ‘Jewish’ people) in Western Axis states.
Origin
- GermanJudenstern
- EnglishJudenstern
Borrowed from German Judenstern, literally "Jew-star".
More words from German
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Judenstern. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Judenstern
“Judenstern.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Judenstern. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Judenstern,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Judenstern.
Source: Judenstern on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.