鬼佬

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Chinese

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ghost; sly; crafty man; guy
trad. (鬼佬)
simp. #(鬼佬)

Etymology

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(Can this(+) etymology be sourced?) Originally Cantonese. From the supposed resemblance of Portuguese and other European skin tones to ghosts.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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鬼佬

  1. (chiefly Cantonese, Eastern Min, colloquial, derogatory, sometimes offensive, ethnic slur) gweilo; "foreign devil"; Caucasian; whitey

Usage notes

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  • A derogatory term for white men, mainly in speech. Prior to the 1980s, the term was commonly prefixed in Cantonese by (sei2, damned), with the meaning "damned ghost bastard, damned foreign devil".

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • English: gweilo, gwailo, kwailo

See also

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