Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Yiddish ·1890s
Shiksa
from שיקסע (shikse)
- Meaning
- A non-Jewish girl or woman (sometimes derogatory).
- Source word
- שיקסע (shikse)
- Route into English
- Yiddish *shikse* (from Hebrew *šeqeṣ*, a detested thing, with a feminine ending) → English via American Jewish speech → sometimes considered pejorative due to its harsh Hebrew root.
- Arrived
- 1890s
From Yiddish
Mass migration from Ashkenazi Eastern Europe to New York (1880–1920) funnelled Yiddish into American English, from where it diffused globally.
English borrows.
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