This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Jayron32 (talk | contribs) at 17:27, 22 June 2015 (remove random bit of trivia. There's no need to list random uses of the word, there is no evidence this usage in this one TV episode is particularly more important than any other.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 17:27, 22 June 2015 by Jayron32 (talk | contribs) (remove random bit of trivia. There's no need to list random uses of the word, there is no evidence this usage in this one TV episode is particularly more important than any other.)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) For the traditional Hindu science of the phonetics and phonology of Sanskrit, see Shiksha. For the Indian educational organization, see Shiksha (NGO). For the 1970 film, see Shiksha (film).Shiksa (Yiddish: שיקסע shikse) is an often disparaging term of Yiddish origin that has moved into English usage (as well as Polish), mostly in North American Jewish culture, as a term for a non-Jewish woman or girl.
Writer Menachem Kaiser argues in his essay "Anti-non-Semitism: An Investigation of the Shiksa" that "the pejorative connotation of 'shiksa' is fuzzy at best" because "'shiksa' today is used as often as not in winking self-reference".
Among Orthodox Jews, the term may be used to describe a Jewish girl or woman who fails to follow Orthodox religious precepts.
The equivalent term for a non-Jewish male, used less frequently, is shegetz.
Derivation
The etymology of the word shiksa is partly derived from the Hebrew term שקץ shekets, meaning "abomination", "impure," or "object of loathing", depending on the translator.
Several dictionaries define "shiksa" as a disparaging and offensive term applied to a non-Jewish girl or woman.
In Polish, siksa (pronounced [ʂɨksa]) is a pejorative word for an immature young girl or teenage girl, as it is a conflation between the Yiddish term and usage of the Polish verb sikać ("to urinate"). It means "pisspants" and is roughly equivalent to the English terms "snot-nosed brat", "little squirt", or "kid".
See also
References
- ^ "Shiksa—Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary".
- Kaiser, Menachem (March 6, 2013). "Anti-non-Semitism: An Investigation of the Shiksa". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
- Question 19.6: What does "shiksa" and "shaygetz" mean? How offensive are they?
- "definition of shiksa". The Free Dictionary. Retrieved 2014-08-23.
- Kaiser, Menachem (3 March 2013). "Anti-non-Semitism: An Investigation of the Shiksa". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 2014-08-23.
- Słownik języka polskiego - str.112 (przeglądanie dokumentu wymaga instalacji przeglądarki DjVu)