peckerwood

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Noun

[edit] English

Wikipedia

[edit] Etymology

Inversion of woodpecker, from the bird seen as the symbol of Whites, as opposed to the black crow, symbol of Blacks.

[edit] Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈpɛkəwʊd/

[edit] Noun

peckerwood (plural peckerwoods)

1. (US, pejorative, slang) A white person, especially a Southerner, or when regarded as ignorant or rustic.
   • 1946, Mezz Mezzrow & Bernard Wolfe, Really the Blues, Payback Press 1999, p. 16:

     All the time I was stretched out on the infirmary cot I kept looking at the blank walls and seeing the mean, murdering faces of those Southern peckerwoods when they went after Big Six and the others with their knives.