Word Origins

*SHYSTER

This Americanism was probably coined early in the nineteenth century, since its first recorded use, as cited in the Dictionary of American English, was in 1846. The Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English suggests that shyster is a variant of shicer, “a person or thing of no account, worthless,” although the latter may actually be the newer word. In any event, there is some reason to believe that both are derived from the German (possibly through Yiddish) Scheisse. Walter Matthau, above, as William H. "Whiplash Willie" Gingrich, is perhaps the quintessential portrayal of a shyster, an unscrupulous professional, especially in a law practice or politics, in the film The Fortune Cookie (1966).

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)