goy
/ɡɔɪ/
"goy" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“goy” is uncommon English (frequency #67,484 among 2,313 “G” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #67,484
- frequency rank, English
- 2,313
- “G” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A non-Jew, a gentile.
Corpus desk
Index EN-goy · goy · English
goy · rank #67,484 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #67,484
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,313
- PHOTO-FINISH Gori
Nearest frequency peer: Gori (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “goy”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- gook
gook
32,520 corpus weight
- gopi
gopi
32,519 corpus weight
- Gori
Gori
32,518 corpus weight
- goy
goy
32,517 corpus weight
- gree
gree
32,516 corpus weight
- groundnut
groundnut
32,513 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “goy” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | goy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɡɔɪ/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #67,484 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “goy” in English
Rare enough to double-check
goy is uncommon English at frequency #67,484 among 2,313 “G” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ɡɔɪ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for goy, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Biblical Hebrew גּוֹי (goi)bor. Yiddish גוי (goy)bor. English goy Borrowed from Yiddish גוי (goy, “gentile”), borrowed from Biblical Hebrew גּוֹי (goi, “nation”). The term goy does not technically refer to non-Jews, but rather to a nation per… The correct English form is goy, spelled G-O-Y.
Definition
- 1A non-Jew, a gentile.
- 2Synonym of shabbos goy (“a gentile thought to be subservient to Jewish people”)
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how goy appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I don’t think that marriage is working, but I’m not going to be stupid about it and say she shouldn’t have married a goy.
Etymology
Etymology tree Biblical Hebrew גּוֹי (goi)bor. Yiddish גוי (goy)bor. English goy Borrowed from Yiddish גוי (goy, “gentile”), borrowed from Biblical Hebrew גּוֹי (goi, “nation”). The term goy does not technically refer to non-Jews, but rather to a nation per se; the Jews are said to constitute a goy. But through common usage – namely referring to "the [other non-Jewish] nations" – the word came to colloquially refer to non-Jews.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "goy", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).