איכס (iks) — yuck; expression of disgust

Etymology

The word איכס, the standard modern Hebrew exclamation of disgust, was borrowed from Egyptian Arabic. The Arabic verb חַסַאַ (hasaa) means "to drive away, to shoo, to expel." Its imperative form אִחְסַ (ihsa) is used in Classical Arabic to shoo away a dog — similar to English "shoo" or Israeli Hebrew קישטה. In Egyptian colloquial Arabic of the mid-20th century, the shortened form אִחְסְ (ihs) became the standard exclamation of disgust, though it has since been largely displaced in Egypt by יַע (ya').

The word entered Israeli Hebrew through the cultural channels typical of Arabic borrowings: Tel Aviv's bohemian scene in the late 1960s. It spread into wider use during the 1970s. The earliest documented use found is in Dan Almagor's 1969 sketch "Shalom la-Mora le-Teva" ("Goodbye, Nature Teacher"), written for the Dizengoff Command Entertainment Troupe, where a student responds to the teacher's mention of a toad with the exclamation "איכס!"

As had happened earlier with the Yiddish exclamation פּוּי (fuy), which had given rise to the childish diminutive פּוּיָה (fuya), so too did איכס generate the parallel form אִכְסָה (iksa). Both forms appear side by side in the 1972 slang dictionary of Dan Ben-Amotz and Netiva Ben-Yehuda.

Before איכס, the dominant Hebrew exclamation of disgust was פּוּי (fuy), from Yiddish (and related to German/Czech/Serbian cognates). Yosef Haim Brenner used פוי in a 1911 play, and Natan Alterman opened a 1945 poem with it. By the 1950s, the childish form פויה was the common variant, but speakers were aware of its juvenile register. By the late 1960s and 1970s, איכס had largely supplanted פוי/פויה among younger Israeli speakers.

Other Arabic-origin Hebrew exclamations include:

• אִיךְ (ikh) — also expressing disgust, from Arabic יִחח/יִח׳ח׳ (yihh/yikhkh), used across the Arab world
• אִיף (if) — expressing disgust at smells specifically, from Arabic אִיף (if), also widely used across the Arab world

The popular dictum "לא אומרים איכס על אוכל" ("you don't say 'yuck' about food") is attested by 1990 in the IDF publication Bamahane.

Key Quotes

"ניקח למשל את הקרפדה" / "איכס!" — Dan Almagor, sketch for Dizengoff Command Entertainment Troupe, 1969

Timeline

• Classical Arabic: אִחְסַ (ihsa) used as imperative to shoo animals
• Mid-20th century Egypt: Short form אִחְסְ (ihs) established as colloquial exclamation of disgust
• Late 1960s: Enters Israeli Hebrew via Tel Aviv bohemian scene
• 1969: First documented Hebrew use — Dan Almagor's entertainment sketch
• 1972: Both איכס and אכסה documented in Ben-Amotz and Ben-Yehuda's slang dictionary
• 1971–72: Parallel form פִיכְסְ (fikhs) appears, likely a blend of פוי (Yiddish) and איכס (Arabic)
• 1990: The phrase "לא אומרים איכס על אוכל" attested in Bamahane magazine

Related Words

• פוי — earlier Hebrew exclamation of disgust, from Yiddish (pre-1960s dominant form)
• פויה — childish form of פוי
• אכסה — variant of איכס
• פיכסה — blend of פוי and איכסה
• איך — similar Arabic-origin exclamation of disgust (from Arabic יחח)
• איף — Arabic-origin exclamation for bad smells