koyne

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Definitions

  • n. A customer.

Example Sentences

  • "As Maxwell Street has perennially sat amid inner-city poverty, the difference between profit and bankruptcy depends on a merchant's instincts for instantly differentiating between a koyne (customer, from the Hebrew 'to buy') and a ganef (a shoplifter, from the Yiddish for 'thief')." (source)

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Languages of Origin

  • Textual Hebrew
  • Yiddish

Etymology

  • Y קונה koyne

      • Who Uses This

      • Older: Jews who are middle-aged and older
      • Ashkenazim: Jews with Ashkenazi heritage

      Regions

      • North America

      Dictionaries

      • Yiddish and English: A Century of Yiddish in America, by Sol Steinmetz (Tuscaloosa, 1986).

      Alternative Spellings

      koyneh, koineh, koine

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