shyster

/ˈʃaɪs.tə(ɹ)/

Etymology

US origin, 19th century. The etymology of the word is not generally agreed upon. The Oxford English Dictionary describes it as "of obscure origin," possibly deriving from a historical sense of shy meaning "disreputable", equivalent to shy + -ster. Other sources suggest the word derives from shicer, from the German Scheißer (“incompetent worthless person”), from scheißen (“to defecate”), probably influenced by -ster. Not related to shylock.

noun

  1. Someone who acts in a disreputable, unethical, or unscrupulous way, especially in the practice of law and politics.“True, it was a good advertisement at Boosters' Club lunches, and all the varieties of Annual Banquets to which Good Fellows were invited, to speak sonorously of […] a thing called Ethics, whose nature was confusing but if you had it you were a High-class Realtor and if you hadn't you were a shyster, a piker, and a fly-by-night.”

verb

  1. To act in a disreputable, unethical, or unscrupulous way, especially in the practice of law and politics.
  2. To exploit (someone or something) in this way.