honky

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English

[edit]

Alternative forms

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

Sense of “factory hand” attested from 1946. Compare hunky, bohunk.

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Most likely from hunky (Hungarian, Slav, eastern European; any white person), an African-American vernacular shortening of Hungarian.[1] Another possible etymon is Wolof xonq (red, pink), a term frequently used in African languages to describe white men.[2]

As a term of racial abuse it was popularized by the Black Panther Party starting from 1967, who sought a rebuttal to nigger.

Pronunciation

[edit]

Noun

[edit]

honky (plural honkies)

  1. (US, Canada, derogatory, ethnic slur) A white (Caucasian) person.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:white person
  2. (US, obsolete) A factory hand or general unskilled worker.

Derived terms

[edit]

Translations

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]