goy

See also gøy

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• Goy
• goi
• Goi

Etymology

From Yiddish גוי (goy, “gentile”), from Hebrew גּוֹי (goi, “nation”).

Cf. Exodus 19:6: ממלכת קהנים וגוי קדוש (mamlekhet kohanim v'goy kadosh) "... a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (referring to the Jewish people). The word "goy" technically refers not to non-Jews, but rather to a nation per se; the Jews are said to constitute a "goy". But through common usage - namely referring to "the [other non-Jewish] nations" - the word came to colloquially refer to non-Jews.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɡɔɪ/
• Rhymes: -ɔɪ

Noun

goy (plural goyim or goys or goyem)

1. A non-Jew, a Gentile.
   • 1988, Anthony Burgess, Any Old Iron:

     I don’t think that marriage is working, but I’m not going to be stupid about it and say she shouldn’t have married a goy.

Translations

non-Jew

• Catalan: Goy (ca)
• Czech: Gój (cs) m
• French: goy (fr) m, goï (fr) m, gentil (fr) m
• German: Goi (de) m, (obsolete) Goj (de) m
• Hebrew: גּוֹי (he) (goi) m
• Hungarian: gój (hu)

• Italian: Goy (it) m
• Polish: Goj (pl) m
• Portuguese: goy (pt) m
• Russian: гой (ru) (goj) m
• Spanish: goy (es) m
• Yiddish: גוי (yi) (goy) m

Usage notes

• This noun is sometimes taken to be offensive; speakers wishing to avoid offense may prefer the term gentile (sometimes capitalized as Gentile) or simply non-Jew.

Anagrams

• ygo