goy

or goi

[ goi ]

/ gɔɪ /

noun, plural goy·im [goi-im] /ˈgɔɪ ɪm/, goys. Usually Disparaging.

a term used by a Jew to refer to someone who is not Jewish.

a term used by an observant Jew to refer to a Jew who is not religious or is ignorant of Judaism.

Nearby words

gowk, gowl, gown, gownsman, gox, goy, goya, goya, francisco, goyen, goyish, gozzle

Origin of goy

1835–45; < Yiddish < Hebrew goi nation, non-Jew, Jew ignorant of the Jewish religion

Related forms

goy·ish, adjective

Usage note

Use of this term usually implies a contempt for non-Jews as being different from or even inferior to Jews: Only a goy would use such faulty logic. goy is rarely used in a neutral, descriptive way as a synonym for gentile , though that is its meaning in Yiddish and Hebrew. In another usually disparaging usage, goy is applied to a Jew who is not observant.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for goy

The narrator calls two of the men "Bill the Goy" and "Clyde the Schlub."
Must Read New Fiction: ‘Arcadia,’ ‘Men in Space,’ ‘The O’Briens,’ ‘Hot Pink’|Chloë Schama, Jacob Silverman, Wendy Smith, Daniel Roberts|March 23, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Two in particular, Agasaki and Goy, are thus described by Kmpfer.
The History of Prostitution|William W. Sanger
In the eyes of the Goy he's something peculiar, something disgraceful!
Simon Eichelkatz; The Patriarch|Ulrich Frank
The indefatigable litigant, the brilliant engineer, to whom ideas, goy!
The Entailed Hat|George Alfred Townsend

Itzig says he is without a beard and looks more like a goy (gentile) than like one of our own people.
Rabbi and Priest|Milton Goldsmith
Truly the wise man's proverb is just: "Sedaukauh teromain goy, veh-ka-sade le-u-meem khahmaut."
General Smith's Views of the Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States|Joseph Smith

British Dictionary definitions for goy

goy

/ (ɡɔɪ) /

noun plural goyim (ˈɡɔɪɪm) or goys

a Jewish word for a gentile

Derived Forms

goyish, adjective

Word Origin for goy

from Yiddish, from Hebrew goi people

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012