wog
A non-white person, especially one of South Asian, Middle Eastern, or African descentA non-white person, especially one of South Asian, Middle Eastern, or African descent.
Meaning
7 senses(UK, dated, ethnic, slur)A non-white person, especially one of South Asian, Middle Eastern, or African descent.
(Australia)Someone of Mediterranean descent, such as an Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Lebanese, Greek, or Maltese person.
(attributive, often)A person who is not a Scientologist.
Kanake, Ölauge
хачxač, чу́ркаčúrka, чурба́нčurbán
(slang)A pollywog, or sailor who has never crossed the Equator.
(Australia, slang)A bug, an insect.
(Australia, slang)A minor illness caused by bacteria, virus, intestinal parasite, etc.
(Australia, obsolete, slang)A toy insect in parts that can be assembled, used in fund-raising games.
- (offensive British slang) term used by the British to refer to people of color from Africa or Asia
Translations
4 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
Origin
The origins are not entirely clear. The term was first noted by the lexicographer F.C. BowThe origins are not entirely clear. The term was first noted by the lexicographer F.C. Bowen in 1929, in his Sea Slang: a dictionary of the old-timers’ expressions and epithets, where he defines wogs as "lower class Babu shipping clerks on the Indian coast."
Clipping of polliwog (“a tadpole”).
Unknown. Probably from Etymology 2, a clipping of polliwog (“a tadpole”).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source