(shīˈstər)
noun Slang An unethical, unscrupulous practitioner, especially of law.
Related Forms:
Word History: Calling someone a
shyster might be considered libellous; knowing its probable origin adds insult to injury. According to Gerald L. Cohen, a student of the word,
shyster is derived from the German term
scheisser, meaning literally “one who defecates,” from the verb
scheissen, “to defecate,” with the English suffix
-ster, “one who does,” substituted for the German suffix
-er, meaning the same thing.
Sheisser, which is chiefly a pejorative term, is the German equivalent of our English terms
bastard and
son of a bitch. Sheisser is generally thought to have been borrowed directly into English as the word
shicer, which, among other things, is an Australian English term for an unproductive mine or claim, a sense that is also recorded for the word
shyster.