Meanings
plural shonickers · alternative shoniker · alternative shonikker · alternative shonnicker · alternative shonniker · alternative schonocker
- USdatedethnicoffensiveslurA Jew.
He'd cried out, in the last scrap, urging Benny to demolish a Jew, ‘Hit him, he's only a shonicker.’
1979, James Wreford Watson, quoting James T. Farrell, “The Jewish Scapegoat”, in Social geography of the United States, Longman, →ISBN, page 922 more examples
“Well, if you ask me, Barney is a combination of eight ball, mick, and shonicker,” said McArdle, one of the corner topers.
1932, James T. Farrell, chapter 6, in Young Lonigan, →ISBN, section 3, page 156“You and I are expendable here, Charlie,” Humboldt said. “Why? I'll tell you. We're Jews, shonickers, kikes. Here in Princeton, we're no threat to Sewell.”
1975, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →ISBN, page 124
Origin
- Yiddish[Term?]“small trader”
- Englishshonicker
From Yiddish [Term?] (“small trader”).
More words from Yiddish
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
shonicker. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shonicker
“shonicker.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shonicker. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shonicker,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shonicker.
Source: shonicker on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.