jew
English
(Jew)
Noun
(
en noun)
An adherent of Judaism.
- I don't have a religion, but my sister is a Jew and my brother is a Wiccan.
A person who claims a cultural or ancestral connection to the Jewish people (see secular Jew).
* William Shakespeare The Merchant of Venice (Act III, scene I)
- Hath not a Jew' eyes? Hath not a ' Jew hands, organs
- dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with
- the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject
- to the same diseases, heal'd by the same means,
- warm'd and cool'd by the same winter and summer
- as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?
- If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us,
- do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
Usage notes
* The Jewish community overall has a common religion, culture, identity, and ethnicity, but individual Jews do not necessarily share all of these; therefore, a person might be a Jew by one standpoint but not by another.
* Additionally, there are some religious groups that identify themselves as part of Judaism, but that other Jewish groups might not; hence, use of the term Jew often depends on the speaker's opinions.
* The noun Jew'' is not offensive, and the overwhelming majority of English-speaking Jews use the noun ''Jew to identify themselves.
* That said, it has become offensive for historical reasons to use the word Jew'' attributively, in modifying another noun (as in "Jew lawyer"); the adjective ''Jewish is preferred for this purpose.
* Additionally, the derived verbs jew'' and ''jew down are considered offensive, as they reflect stereotypes considered offensive.
Hypernyms
* religionist, Abrahamist. theist, creationist
Coordinate terms
*
Synonyms
* Jewess (qualifier)
* Hebrew (dated)
* Yahudi (quranic)
* Israelite (dated)
* kike (derogatory)
* Moses (qualifier)
* yid (derogatory)
* heeb (derogatory)
* sheeny (derogatory)
* hymie (derogatory)
Hyponyms
*halakhist
Derived terms
* Wandering Jew
* Jewhatred
* Jewsrael
*ex-Jew
