Gweilo
Sign in to saveGweilo or '''''' (, pronounced ) is a common Cantonese slang term for white people. The term can be literally translated as "ghoul man" or "devil man" and has a history of racially deprecatory and pejorative use, though its modern usage is often in a general and non-derogatory context. The appropriateness of the term and whether it constitutes as an offensive ethnic slur are disputed among both Cantonese speakers and Westerners.
Key facts
- Chinese.c
- 鬼佬
- Chinese.p
- guǐlǎo
- Chinese.j
- gwai2 lou2
- Chinese.y
- gwái-lóu
- Chinese.gd
- guei2 lou2
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- Etymology and history
- Usage
- Related terms
- Mandarin Chinese
- See also
- References
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Gweilo or '''' (, pronounced ) is a common Cantonese slang term for white people. The term can be literally translated as "ghoul man" or "devil man" and has a history of racially deprecatory and pejorative use, though its modern usage is often in a general and non-derogatory context. The appropriateness of the term and whether it constitutes as an offensive ethnic slur are disputed among both Cantonese speakers and Westerners.
==Etymology and history== Gwái (, gui in Mandarin) means "ghoul”, "ghost" or "devil", and lóu () means "man" or "guy". The literal translation of gwáilóu would thus be "ghoul man" or “ghost man". It is sometimes translated into English as "foreign devil". In many Sinitic languages, gwai and its local equivalents can be a derogatory term used as a curse or an insult. The term 鬼 gwai has also been used to describe other ethnic groups, for example, a 17th-century writer from Canton, , wrote that Africans "look like ghouls", and gwáinòuh () was once used to describe African slaves.