kike

Etymology

Origins are disputed. One theory traces it to Yiddish קײַקל (kaykl, "circle"): early 20th-century Jewish immigrants to the US who could not write in Latin script reportedly signed documents with a circle rather than an X, to avoid anything resembling a cross. Other theories point to a contraction of the phrase "Ikey-Kikey" or to Scots keek ("to peek"), tied to clothing-industry espionage. No theory is universally accepted.