This glossary of names for the British include nicknames and terms, including affectionate ones, neutral ones, and derogatory ones to describe British people, Irish People and more specifically English, Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish people. Many of these terms may vary between offensive, derogatory, neutral and affectionate depending on a complex combination of tone, facial expression, context, usage, speaker and shared past history.
Sangokujin is a Japanese term referring to the various former colonial subjects of the Empire of Japan in the aftermath of World War II. This term particularly applied to Koreans and Taiwanese people, although it also sometimes was used for Ryukyuan people. The term is now generally considered antiquated and offensive.
Gweilo or gwailou is a common Cantonese slang term for Westerners. In the absence of modifiers, it refers to white people and has a history of racially deprecatory and pejorative use. Cantonese speakers frequently use gwailou to refer to Westerners in general use, in a non-derogatory context, although whether this type of usage is offensive is disputed by both Cantonese and Westerners.
Anti-Japanese sentiment, a form of racism against Asians, involves the hatred or fear of anything which is Japanese, be it its culture or its people. Its opposite is Japanophilia.
Shina is a largely archaic name for China. The word was originally used in Japanese and had a neutral connotation, but came to be perceived as derogatory by Chinese people during the course of the First and Second Sino-Japanese Wars. As a result, it fell into disuse following World War II and is now viewed as offensive, with the standard Japanese name for China being replaced by 中国.
The Japanese American Citizens League is an Asian American civil rights charity, headquartered in San Francisco, with regional chapters across the United States.
Kaffir, also spelled Cafri, is an exonym and an ethnic slur – the use of it in reference to black people being particularly common in South Africa. In Arabic, the word kāfir ("unbeliever") was originally applied to non Muslims before becoming predominantly focused on pagan zanj who were increasingly used as slaves. During the Age of Exploration in early modern Europe, variants of the Latin term cafer were adopted in reference to non-Muslim Bantu peoples even when they were monotheistic. It was eventually used, particularly in Afrikaans, for any black person during the Apartheid and Post-Apartheid eras, closely associated with South African racism, it became a pejorative by the mid-20th century and is now considered extremely offensive hate speech. Punishing continuing use of the term was one of the concerns of the Promotion of Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act enacted by the South African parliament in the year 2000 and it is now euphemistically addressed as the K-word in South African English.
Jap is an English slur abbreviation of the word "Japanese".
The English word squaw is an ethnic and sexual slur, historically used for Indigenous North American women. Contemporary use of the term, especially by non-Natives, is considered derogatory, misogynist, and racist.
Chinaman is a term referring to a Chinese man or person, a Mainland Chinese national or, in some cases, a person native to geographical East Asia or of perceived East Asian race. While the term has no negative connotations in older dictionaries and the usage of such compound terms as Englishman, Scotsman, Frenchman, Dutchman, Irishman, and Welshman are sometimes cited as unobjectionable parallels, the term is noted as having pejorative overtones by modern dictionaries. Its derogatory connotations evolved from its use in pejorative contexts regarding Chinese people and other Asians as well as its grammatical incorrectness which resembles stereotypical characterizations of Chinese accents in English-speaking associated with discrimination. The usage of the term Chinaman is strongly discouraged by Asian American organizations.
Beaner is a derogatory slur originally from the United States to refer to individuals of Hispanic or Latino descent, particularly those that are from Mexico or of Mexican American heritage. It originates from the bean being a staple ingredient in Mexican cuisine.
Jjokbari is a Korean language ethnic slur which may refer to Japanese citizens or people of Japanese ancestry. A variation on the slur, ban-jjokbari, meaning literally "half-jjokbari", has been used to refer to mixed Japanese-Korean people, as well as Koreans in Japan who returned to the peninsula.
Wog is a racial slur used to refer, in British English, to black and South Asian people, and, in Australian English, to people from the Mediterranean region such as Southern Europeans. Whilst it is extremely derogatory in British English, in Australian English it may be considered non-offensive depending on how the word is used, due to reclamation and changing connotations.
Nip is an ethnic slur against people of Japanese descent and origin. The word Nip is an abbreviation from Nippon (日本), the Japanese name for Japan.
Tranny is an offensive and derogatory slur for a transgender individual, often specifically a transgender woman.
In modern usage, retard is a pejorative, and now offensive, term either for someone with an actual mental disability, or for someone who is considered stupid, slow to understand, or ineffective in some way. The adjective retarded is used in the same way, for something very foolish or stupid. Because it is offensive, the word is commonly censored and referred to as the euphemistic "r‑word" or "r‑slur".
Koto Matsudaira was a Japanese diplomat who served as an ambassador to the United Nations from 1957 to 1961.
Cherry Kinoshita was a Japanese American activist and leader in the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL). She helped found the Seattle Evacuation Redress Committee and fought for financial compensation for Japanese Americans who had been incarcerated during World War II.
