shyster

English

Alternative forms

• schister, scheister, sheister, schyster, shister, shaista, shiester, schiester

Etymology

US origin, 19th century. The etymology of the word is not generally agreed upon. The Oxford English Dictionary describes it as "of obscure origin," possibly deriving from a historical sense of shy meaning "disreputable", equivalent to shy +‎ -ster. Other sources suggest the word derives from the German Scheißer (“incompetent worthless person”), from scheißen (“to defecate”), probably influenced by -ster. Not related to shylock.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈʃaɪs.tə(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈʃaɪs.tɚ/

Noun

shyster (plural shysters)

1. Someone who acts in a disreputable, unethical, or unscrupulous way, especially in the practice of law and politics.

   Synonym: pettifogger

   • 1922, Sinclair Lewis, chapter 4, in Babbitt, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC:

     True, it was a good advertisement at Boosters' Club lunches, and all the varieties of Annual Banquets to which Good Fellows were invited, to speak sonorously of […] a thing called Ethics, whose nature was confusing but if you had it you were a High-class Realtor and if you hadn't you were a shyster, a piker, and a fly-by-night.

   • 1973, Lucas Webb, Stribling, page 188:

     The network canceled—nonco-operation their legal shysters said. Suing me, for, for ten million clams, damages to sponsors, agencies. Internal Revenue-Uncle Whiskers says I owe them a mint.

   • 1981, Blake Edwards, S.O.B. (motion picture), spoken by Dr. Irving Finegarten (Robert Preston):

     I could sue you, Polly. A shyster is a disreputable lawyer. I'm a quack.

Derived terms

• sheisty
• shysterism

Translations

someone who acts in a disreputable, unethical, or unscrupulous way

• Bulgarian: мошеник (bg) m (mošenik), шарлатанин (bg) m (šarlatanin)
• French: avocaillon (fr) m, chicaneur (fr) m
• Galician: avogado das silveiras m
• German: Gauner (de) m, Rechtsverdreher (de) m, Winkeladvokat (de) m
• Greek: δικολάβος (el) m (dikolávos)
• Russian: мерзавец (ru) m (merzavec), мерзавка (ru) f (merzavka)
• Swedish: brännvinsadvokat (sv)

Verb

shyster (third-person singular simple present shysters, present participle shystering, simple past and past participle shystered)

1. (intransitive) To act in a disreputable, unethical, or unscrupulous way, especially in the practice of law and politics.
2. (transitive) To exploit (someone or something) in this way.

References

• “shyster”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “shyster n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present
• Eric Partridge (2005) “shyster”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, volume 2 (J–Z), London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 1746.
• Michael Quinion (1996–2024) “Shyster”, in World Wide Words.

Anagrams

• thyrses