Shild - שילד \SHILD\ Noun \ Masculine/Feminine \ Pl. Shildn:

A shield, sign, signboard.
A note on the gender: According to Wexler, shild in the sense of “signboard” has feminine gender, while shild in the sense of “shield” is masculine.

Pronunciation: Click here to hear a native Yiddish speaker use this word in conversation.

Synonym: pantser (פאנצער).

German equivalent: der Schild.

Etymology: The word derives from Middle High German “schilt,” from Old High German “scilt,” both of which ultimately derive from Proto-Germanicskelduz, itself from the Proto-Indo-European roots (s)keit-, (s)keid-, kheit-(shield, cover), which have to do with cutting and splitting (thus, shild is related to sheydn as well). Cognates include Breton “skoed,” Catalan “escut,”Danish “skjold,” Dutch “schild,” Gothic skildus, Icelandic “skjöldur,” Irish “sciath,” Italian “scudo,” Latin “scūtum,” Lithuanian “skydas,” Middle English “shelde,” Middle French “escut,” Modern English “shield,” Modern French “écu,” New High German “der Schild,” Norwegian “skjold,” Old English “scield, scyld,” Old French “escut,” Old Frisian “skeld,” Old Icelandic “skoldr,” Old Irish “scíath,” Old Norse “skjǫldr,” Old Saxon “scild,”Portuguese “escudo,” Romanian “scut,” Spanish “escudo,” Swedish “sköld,”and West Frisian “skyld.”

Derivatives of shild: farshildern (פארשילדערן) - to post a sign; shildern (שילדערן) - to depict, describe, portray (Kluge helps us understand the semantic shift from “shield” to “depict/describe” based on the medieval practice of painting coats of arms); onerken-shild (אנערקען-שילד) - a plaque; Roytshild (רויטשילד) - Rothschild (the family name, meaning “red shield;” by extension, any extremely wealthy person); shilddriz (שילדדריז) - a thyroid gland (lit., a shield gland; see the etymology of thyroid here); shilderung (שילדערונג) - depiction, description; shildkroyt (שילדקרויט) - a tortoise; shildl (שילדל) - a plate;Sobyeskis Shild (סאביעסקיס שילד) - the Shield of Sobieski.

Phrases with shild:
1. geyn vi a shildkroyt (גיין ווי א שילדקרויט) - to walk like a tortoise.
2. raykh vi Roytshild (רייך ווי רויטשילד) - as rich as a Rothschild.

Expression with shild:
1. Genug hot Roytshild (גענוג האט רויטשילד) - Only Rothschild has enough (i.e. everyone needs money).

Rabbinic wordplay with shild: As quoted by Weinreich, the letters of shild (in the sense of “sign,” not “shield”) are supposed to stand for shoyte yaymin lekhol dovor (שוטה יאמין לכל דבר) - a fool will believe anything (a critique of those who believe in something based solely on a supposed supernatural sign of its veracity).

Shild’s influence on Modern Hebrew: As Finkin and Balashon (the latter quoting Philologos) point out, biblical Hebrew shelet (שלט) and Yiddish shildsound very similar and both mean “shield.” Because the latter word also took on the meaning “sign,” by coming to be associated with coats of arms, it seems that the creators of Modern Hebrew slipped that meaning into sheletas well, and that is in fact the meaning for which shelet is most often used today.

Shild in a sentence: In Vilyamsburg, vi in andere mekoymes, muz men hobn derekh-erets far di oysgeredte tnoyem fun dinst vos shteyen oyf di shildn (אין וויליאמסבורג, ווי אין אנדערע מקומות, מוז מען האבן דרך-ארץ פאר די אויסגערעדטע תנאים פון דינסט וואס שטייען אויף די שילדן) - In Williamsburg, as in other places, you have to have respect for the stipulated conditions of service found on the signs.

Use shild in your own sentence today!