goy

American  

[goi] / gɔɪ /

Sometimes goi

noun

Sometimes Disparaging.

• goyim,
  plural
• goys
  plural

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

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

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goy British  

/ ɡɔɪ /

noun

1. a Jewish word for a gentile

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Sensitive Note

In Yiddish and Hebrew, goy is a neutral, descriptive term meaning gentile. In English, it may sometimes be used disparagingly or contemptuously. The word is also considered disparaging when it is applied to a Jew who is not observant.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• goyish
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• goyim
  plural
• goys
  plural

Etymology

Origin of goy

First recorded in 1835–45; from Yiddish, from Hebrew goi “nation, non-Jew, Jew ignorant of the Jewish religion”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

goy goyim goys

"Shabbos goy" is a term used to refer to non-Jews employed by Orthodox Jews to perform certain services that are forbidden on the Sabbath.

From Fox News ● Nov. 28, 2021

I even shacked up with a goy – oy vey!

From The Guardian ● Dec. 21, 2019

And, of course, I’m the goy playing a Jew in the movie.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 22, 2015

In Jewish law, because you are forbidden to turn on the light on Shabbat, a friendly gentile can perform that service—the Shabbes goy.

From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2013

And then the words the woman had spoken came to her: a goy zugt a vertl.

From "The Devil's Arithmetic" by Jane Yolen

The Hebrew word goyim, in early Bible history, was equivalent to our word nation. 

From The Lost Ten Tribes, and 1882 by Joseph Wild

I will hear obsarve that Mrs.Ward is a invalerble womum—the partner of my goys & the shairer of my sorrers.

From The Complete Works of Artemus Ward — Part 1: Essays, Sketches, and Letters by Artemus Ward

"So long goys the pott to the water, at last comys it home broken!"

From "Everyman," with other interludes, including eight miracle plays by Ernest Rhys