shiksa

American  

[shik-suh] / ˈʃɪk sə /

Or shikse

noun

Yiddish: Often Disparaging.

1. a term used especially by a Jew to refer to a girl or woman who is not Jewish.

2. a term used especially by a Jew to refer to a Jewish girl or woman whose attitudes, behavior, or appearance are felt to resemble those of a gentile.

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

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shiksa British  

/ ˈʃɪksə /

noun

1. a non-Jewish girl

2. a Jewish girl who fails to live up to traditional Jewish standards

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Sensitive Note

This term is often used with disparaging intent, especially when a Jew is implying that the gentile woman is an outsider, not “one of our own.” On the other hand, use of the term in positive contexts such as blonde shiksa goddess can reflect a negative view of Jewish women as unattractive, even though these beautiful shiksas may be luring Jewish men away from their religion. To counter this view of the gentile woman as seductive temptress, shiksa is used by some non-Jewish women as a positive term of self-reference.

Etymology

Origin of shiksa

Yiddish shikse, feminine of sheygets non-Jewish youth, from Hebrew sheqes defect

Example Sentences

In the 1982 film “My Favorite Year,” a young Jewish TV writer played by Mark Linn-Baker triumphantly presents his shiksa date with a vast array of take-out Chinese food.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 19, 2021

To riff off Lenny Bruce, Natalie Portman is not a shiksa.

From Salon • Mar. 6, 2013

An 1890 slang dictionary defines shiksa as of “a certain class of the demi-monde.”And the 1904 Slang and its Analogues, Past and Present calls the shickster “a woman of shady antecedents.”

From Salon • Mar. 6, 2013

Drew Barrymore, wife of Will Kopelman, recently called herself a shiksa on national television.

From Salon • Mar. 6, 2013

The stakes, the growth, the obstacles, the violence, everything, is cast in psychological terms: the shiksa prohibition is maintained and enforced not by God but by your mother.

From Salon • Mar. 6, 2013