Jew, a name formed from that of the patriarch Judah, and applied in its first use to one belonging to the tribe or country of Judah, or rather perhaps to a subject of the separate kingdom of Judah (; ). During the Captivity the term seems to have been extended to all the people of the Hebrew language and country, without distinction (;;; ); and this loose application of the name was preserved after the restoration to Palestine, when it came to denote not only every descendant of Abraham in the largest possible sense, but even proselytes who had no blood-relation to the Hebrews (; comp. ). See the articles Israel; Judah.