white man

English

Alternative forms

• White man
• White Man

Noun

white man (plural white men)

1. A Caucasian man; a European.
2. White people collectively; White culture.
   • 1927, A. M. Hocart, Are Savages Custom-Bound?, in Man, vol. 27

     Savages are commonly supposed to be the slaves of custom to a far greater degree than the White Man, who by contrast appears as the child of reason.

   • 1933, G. St. J. Orde Browne, British Justice and the African, in the Journal of the Royal African Society, vol. 32, no. 127

     […] very little attempt seems to have been made so far to deal with the whole problem of the African in contact with white man’s law, ...

3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see white,‎ man.
   • 1883, Henry Richter, Chess Simplified!, page 4:

     The white men are always put on that side of the board which commences by row I, and the black men are placed opposite.

   • 1908, The Chess Amateur, volume 2, page 39:

     We will suppose that you are the player of the white men, and that your opponent[,] the player of the black men[,] is sitting opposite to you, ready for battle.

Synonyms

• balanda (Australian aboriginal English)
• haole (Hawaiian English)
• pakeha (New Zealand Maori English)

Derived terms

• play the white man
• white man’s burden

Translations

Caucasian — see Caucasian

whites collectively

• Finnish: valkoinen mies
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