Wednesday word: 鬼佬 (gweilo)

[trellia-chan.livejournal.com]

鬼佬 (gweilo)

Noun:   Historically a derogatory term, gweilo is a Cantonese slang word that refers to foreigners, especially Caucasians. It literally translates into "ghost man" with gwei (鬼) meaning "ghost" or "demon" and lo (佬) meaning "man."

It rose in popularity in the early 1800s, and is still commonly used in Hong Kong, but without any real malice nowadays.

Comments

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

Heh. A few years ago, I carved my Halloween pumpkin with that first character, intending the Japanese reading of oni ("demon"), but a Chinese neighbor thought I was jokingly describing myself.

---L.

[theidolhands.livejournal.com]

We were amused in High School to discover this word existed, a similar one exists to describe African Americans as well = black ghost. As prettygoodword points out, the fact that "demon" and "Caucasian" are basically the same word, says a lot.

We discovered this because one student critiqued another for using the word, loudly enough that the class heard, and a discussion ensued.