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coconut

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: coco-nut

English

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Beached coconut.
Ivorian coconut.

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From coco +‎ nut. In reference to assimilated Hispanic or black people, derived from the fruit's exotic origins. The slur originates from the idea that one is "brown on the outside, white on the inside". In reference to Polynesians, from the ubiquity of coconut palms in the area.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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coconut (countable and uncountable, plural coconuts)

  2. A fruit of the coconut palm (not a true nut), Cocos nucifera, having a fibrous husk surrounding a large seed.
    • 1699, William Dampier, chapter X, in A New Voyage Round the World. […], 4th corrected edition, volume I, London: Printed for James Knapton, […], →OCLC, page 291:
      The Coco-nut Trees grow by the Sea, on the Weſtern ſide in great Groves, 3 or 4 Miles in length, and a Mile or two broad. This tree is in ſhape like the Cabbage-tree, and at a diſtance they are not to be known each from other, only the Coco-nut Tree is fuller of Branches ; but the Cabbage-tree generally is much higher, tho' the Coco-nut Trees in ſome places are very high.
  3. A hard-shelled seed of this fruit, having white flesh and a fluid-filled central cavity.
  4. (uncountable) The edible white flesh of this fruit.
  5. The coconut palm.
  6. (derogatory, ethnic slur) A member of any of various dark-skinned ethnic groups (e.g. Hispanic, South Asian, or black) who is considered to have overly assimilated to white culture:
    1. (US, derogatory, ethnic slur) A Hispanic or other dark-skinned person considered to have overly assimilated to white culture.
    2. (South Africa, Australia, Kenya, derogatory, ethnic slur) A black person considered to have overly assimilated to white culture, a black race traitor.
      Synonyms: Oreo, Uncle Tom
      • 2009, Michela Wrong, It’s Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle Blower:
        Their convictions challenged those critics who dismissed John Githongo’s anti-corruption efforts as the naïve projection of inappropriate ‘mzungu’ values onto an African nation where they were doomed to fail. If John was a ‘coconut’, he certainly wasn’t the only coconut in Kenya.
      • 2016 June 8, “Containment”, in Cleverman, episode 2, spoken by Waruu West [speaking to half-brother Koen West]:
        Your mum is a white whore, you coconut.
    3. (Singapore, derogatory, ethnic slur) A Malay person who cannot speak Malay.
    4. (Malaysia, self-deprecatory) An Indian person who cannot speak Tamil.
  7. (New Zealand, derogatory, ethnic slur) A Pacific islander.
  8. (slang) A female breast.
    • 2005, Clint Caviness, “The Power of the Sugar Tongue”, in When Risqué is Okay: Biblical principles your parents never taught you for a happy marriage behind the bedroom door‎[3] (Religion), Winston, Oregon: Hearts for Home Publications, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 220:
      He compliments her erect posture and says her breasts look like big clusters of grapes hanging off a palm tree. You would expect him to say merely that he likes her big coconuts.
  9. (slang) The human head.
    Synonym: nut
    • 2007, Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness, 2, page 19:
      [Ashley J. Williams shoots a zombified version of the Winter Soldier in the head.]
      Dazzler: Oh my God...thank you! I-i-is he--
      Ashley J. Williams: A double-barrel boomstick blast straight through the coconut? Trust me, babe--he's not comin' back from that one.
    • 2021, Dennis Glover, The Last Man in Europe‎[4]:
      'How unfortunate.'
      'Yes. It's rather causing him to go off his coconut. He's met a girl, you see. A peach.'

Hypernyms

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Coordinate terms

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • → Japanese: ココナッツ (kokonattsu)

Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

References

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  1. ^ Lenape Talking Dictionary‎[1] (overall work in English and Unami): “Mata wëlatuwiyok coconut. ― They don't have a name for coconut.”
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