beaner

English

Etymology 1

From bean +‎ -er. Literally "a person who eats refried beans".

Noun

beaner (plural beaners)

1. (US, ethnic slur, offensive) a Mexican
   • 1999 May 21, Gregory Alan Norton, There Ain't no Justice, Just Us, Xlibris Corporation, ISBN 073880357X, page 32:

     You're gonna work out good, Dave. I was afraid they were gonna hire another nigger or a beaner.

   • 2003, Roy Yelverton, “chapter 2”, in Shovelhead Red – The Drifter's Way^[1]:

     Hey bro I'm a beaner, we ain't good at math. Jeez, dawn 'ju watch TV?

   • 2005, Carlos Mencia, Mind of Mencia:

     I'm a beaner, and I'm telling you white people, that's a bullshit number right off the bat!

Usage notes

The connotations of this word are mixed, and its use can connote things different to what the user intended. It carries pejorative racial connotations to some people.

Translations

a Mexican

• Spanish: frijolero

References

• John Sutherland. "You are what you eat ... arguably", The Guardian, 2000-07-31.

Etymology 2

Unknown.

Noun

beaner (plural beaners)

1. (baseball) A pitch deliberately thrown at the head (the bean) of the batter.
2. (US, slang, dated) A superior or admirable person; something excellent.
   • 1942 May 21, Forrest Edwin Long and Philip Westcot Lawrence Cox, The Clearing House, page 527:

     Gee, that would be a beaner of a sign for education

   • 1949 May 21, Martha Ostenso, The Sunset Tree, Dodd, Mead, page 106:

     Pride, indeed, Esther thought — that was a beaner! There was more purse than pride in Mayme's repentant heart

Usage notes

This sense of a superior or admirable person, from U.S. baseball slang in the 1940s and 1950s, is now almost completely superseded.

References

• 1953 May 21, Lester V. Berrey and Melvín van den Bark, American Thesaurus of Slang: A Complete Reference Book of Colloquial Speech, Crowell, page 27,354,375: