List of ethnic slurs
The following is a list of ethnic slurs, ethnophaulisms, or ethnic epithets that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about members of a given ethnic, national, or racial group or to refer to them in a derogatory, pejorative, or otherwise insulting manner.
Some of the terms listed below (such as "gringo", "yank", etc.) can be used in casual speech without any intention of causing offense. The connotation of a term and prevalence of its use as a pejorative or neutral descriptor varies over time and by geography.
For the purposes of this list, an ethnic slur is a term designed to insult others on the basis of race, ethnicity, or nationality. Each term is listed followed by its country or region of usage, a definition, and a reference to that term.
Ethnic slurs may also be produced as a racial epithet by combining a general-purpose insult with the name of ethnicity, such as "dirty Jew" or "Russian pig". Other common insulting modifiers include "dog" and "filthy"; such terms are not included in this list.
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
See also
- Category:Sex- and gender-related slurs
- Fighting words
- Graphic pejoratives in written Chinese
- Hate speech
- LGBT slang
- List of disability-related terms with negative connotations
- List of ethnic group names used as insults
- List of ethnic slurs and epithets by ethnicity
- List of regional nicknames
- List of religious slurs
- List of terms used for Germans
- Lists of pejorative terms for people
- Pejorative
- Xenophobia
- Xenophobia in the United States
- Xenophobia and racism related to the COVID-19 pandemic
- wikt:Category:English ethnic slurs
- Wiktionary category: English derogatory terms
- wikt:Appendix:English terms for outsiders
References
Bibliography
Further reading
- Adhikari, Mohamed, editor. Burdened by Race: Coloured Identities in Southern Africa. UCT Press, 2013, pp. 69, 124, 203 ISBN 978-1-92051-660-4 [2].
- Burchfield, Robert. "Dictionaries and Ethnic Sensibilities." In The State of the Language, ed. Leonard Michaels and Christopher Ricks, University of California Press, 1980, pp. 15–23.
- Croom, Adam M. "Racial Epithets: What We Say and Mean by Them". Dialogue 51 (1):34–45 (2008)
- Henderson, Anita. "What's in a Slur?" American Speech, Volume 78, Number 1, Spring 2003, pp. 52–74 in Project MUSE
- Kennedy, Randall. Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word (Pantheon, 2002)
- Mencken, H. L. "Designations for Colored Folk." American Speech, 1944. 19: 161–74.
- Mathabane, M. (1986). Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa. Simon & Schuster. (Chapter 2)
- Wachal, Robert S. "Taboo and Not Taboo: That Is the Question." American Speech, 2002. vol. 77: 195–206.
Dictionaries
- Erin McKean, ed. The New Oxford American Dictionary, second edition. (Oxford University Press, 2005)
- Eric Partridge, A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2002)
- John A. Simpson, Oxford English Dictionary Additions Series.ISBN 0-19-861299-0
- Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson, ed. The Concise Oxford English Dictionary. (Oxford University Press, 2004)