The word 'shibboleth' is a loan word from Yiddish 'shibbōleth'

'Shibboleth' is a word borrowed from Yiddish 'shibbōleth'. The word entered the English language some time around 1638.

shibboleth [noun] [1638]

• a word or saying used by adherents of a party, sect, or belief and usually regarded by others as empty of real meaning
• a widely held belief
• truism
• a use of language regarded as distinctive of a particular group

See 'shibboleth' on the Loan Words Map

See more loan words from Yiddish.

Etymology: Hebrew 'shibbōleth' stream; from the use of this word in Judg 12:6 as a test to distinguish Gileadites from Ephraimites

See more loan words from 1600s.