Unnumbered source etymology · variant 1/2
Original entry ↗A Jew. · A miser; a contemptible, stingy person, particularly a well-endowed one. · An Eastern European Jew.
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kʷelh₁-redup. Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos Proto-Hellenic *kʷókʷlos Proto-Hellenic *kúklos Ancient Greek κύκλος (kúklos)der. Yiddish קײַקל (kaykl)der.? English kike Originally used by German-American Jews as a slur for Eastern European Jews immigrating to the United States. 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, in order to avoid using a symbol reminiscent of a Christian Cross. If so, a doublet of chakra, chakram, charkha, chukker, cycle, cyclus, and wheel. 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. Alternatively, from Scots keek (“to peek or peep surreptitiously”), used in the New York City clothing industry to refer to the practice of sending spies to work in competing garment factories to copy designs which would then be reproduced and sold at lower cost. Eastern European Jews played a major role in the clothing industry and were perceived to frequently participate in underhanded business tactics. Originally mostly used by older, established German Jews to refer to the Eastern European newcomers, eventually it became generalized to all Jews.
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
- Derivation mentionקײַקלyi
- Doublet mentionchakraen
- Doublet mentionchakramen
- Doublet mentioncharkhaen
- Doublet mentionchukkeren
- Doublet mentioncycleen
- Doublet mentioncyclusen
- Doublet mentionwheelen
- Derivation mentionkeeksco · to <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">peek</i> or <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">peep</i> surreptitiously
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
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"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": ":der",
"3": "yi:קײַקל<id:circle><unc>",
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"tree": "1"
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"expansion": "Etymology tree\nProto-Indo-European *kʷelh₁-redup.\nProto-Indo-European *-os\nProto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos\nProto-Hellenic *kʷókʷlos\nProto-Hellenic *kúklos\nAncient Greek κύκλος (kúklos)der.\nYiddish קײַקל (kaykl)der.?\nEnglish kike\n[Appendix:Glossary#derived_terms|Derived]] from\", \"terms\" : [ { \"is_uncertain\" : true, \"id\" : \"circle\", \"children\" : [ { \"keyword_abbrev\" : \"der.\", \"keyword_label\" : \"Derived from\", \"terms\" : [ { \"id\" : \"circle\", \"children\" : [ { \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ { \"terms\" : [ { \"alt\" : \"*kʷókʷlos\", \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Hellenic\", \"status\" : \"inline\", \"children\" : [ { \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ { \"keyword_abbrev\" : \"redup.\", \"keyword_label\" : \"Reduplication of\", \"terms\" : [ { \"id\" : \"turn\", \"children\" : [ ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Indo-European\", \"term\" : \"*kʷelh₁-\", \"lang\" : \"ine-pro\" } ], \"keyword\" : \"reduplication\" }, { \"terms\" : [ { \"id\" : \"athematic\", \"children\" : [ ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Indo-European\", \"term\" : \"*-os\", \"lang\" : \"ine-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"From\", \"is_group\" : true, \"keyword\" : \"affix\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Indo-European\", \"term\" : \"*kʷékʷlos\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"ine-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang\" : \"grk-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"From\", \"keyword\" : \"from\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Hellenic\", \"term\" : \"*kúklos\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"grk-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Ancient Greek\", \"term\" : \"κύκλος\", \"lang\" : \"grc\" } ], \"keyword\" : \"derived\" } ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Yiddish\", \"term\" : \"קײַקל\", \"lang\" : \"yi\" } ], \"keyword\" : \"derived\" } ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"English\", \"term\" : \"kike\", \"lang\" : \"en\" }\" data-id=\"Jewish\" data-lang=\"en\" data-title=\"kike\" id=\"English:_Jewish\">"
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"4": "",
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"expansion": "Yiddish קײַקל (kaykl, “circle”)"
},
{
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"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "chakra",
"3": "chakram",
"4": "charkha",
"5": "chukker",
"6": "cycle",
"7": "cyclus",
"8": "wheel",
"nocap": "1"
},
"expansion": "doublet of chakra, chakram, charkha, chukker, cycle, cyclus, and wheel"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "sco",
"3": "keek",
"t": "to <i class=\"Latn mention\" lang=\"en\">peek</i> or <i class=\"Latn mention\" lang=\"en\">peep</i> surreptitiously"
},
"expansion": "Scots keek (“to peek or peep surreptitiously”)"
},
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"name": "etymon",
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"2": ":der",
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"expansion": "Etymology tree\nProto-Indo-European *kʷelh₁-redup.\nProto-Indo-European *-os\nProto-Indo-European *kʷékʷlos\nProto-Hellenic *kʷókʷlos\nProto-Hellenic *kúklos\nAncient Greek κύκλος (kúklos)der.\nYiddish קײַקל (kaykl)der.?\nEnglish kike"
}
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],
[
"*-os",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/-os#Proto-Indo-European:_athematic"
],
[
"*kʷékʷlos",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/kʷékʷlos"
],
[
"*kúklos",
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],
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"κύκλος",
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],
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"קײַקל",
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"chukker",
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],
[
"cycle",
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],
[
"cyclus",
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],
[
"wheel",
"wheel#English"
],
[
"ikey",
"ikey#English"
],
[
"Isaac",
"Isaac#English"
],
[
"keek",
"keek#Scots"
],
[
"peek",
"peek#English"
],
[
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"peep#English"
]
],
"references": [],
"descendants": [
{
"lang": "Japanese",
"lang_code": "ja",
"word": "カイク",
"raw_tags": [
"borrowed"
],
"roman": "kaiku"
}
],
"lexical": [
{
"pos": "noun",
"glosses": [
"A Jew.",
"A miser; a contemptible, stingy person, particularly a well-endowed one.",
"An Eastern European Jew."
],
"tags": [
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"ethnic",
"offensive",
"slang",
"slur",
"vulgar",
"Judaism",
"obsolete"
],
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