goy

Pronunciations

goy

(GOY)

Definitions

• n. A nation, but not the Jewish nation.
  

• n. "Most often used among Jews to refer to someone who is not a Jew." (JPS)
  

Example Sentences

• "People say I look like a goy because I'm blonde!"
  

Languages of Origin

• Textual Hebrew
• Yiddish
• Modern Hebrew

Etymology

• גוי 'lit. nation; non-Jew'
  

Who Uses This

• Jews: Jews of diverse religious backgrounds and organizational involvements
• Non-Jews: (words that have spread outside of Jewish networks)

Regions

• North America

Dictionaries

• The New Joys of Yiddish, by Leo Rosten and Lawrence Bush (New York, 2003[1968]).
• Yiddish and English: A Century of Yiddish in America, by Sol Steinmetz (Tuscaloosa, 1986).
• The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001).
• The Joys of Hebrew, by Lewis Glinert (New York, 1992).
• Dictionary of Jewish Usage: A Popular Guide to the Use of Jewish Terms, by Sol Steinmetz (Lanham, MD, 2005).
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