List of ethnic slurs

The following is a list of ethnic slurs, ethnophaulisms, or ethnic epithets that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about members of a given ethnic, national, or racial group or to refer to them in a derogatory, pejorative, or otherwise insulting manner.
Some of the terms listed below can be used in casual speech without any intention of causing offense. Others are so offensive that people might respond with physical violence. The connotation of a term and prevalence of its use as a pejorative or neutral descriptor varies over time and by geography.
For the purposes of this list, an ethnic slur is a term designed to insult others on the basis of race, ethnicity, or nationality. Each term is listed followed by its country or region of usage, a definition, and a reference to that term.
Ethnic slurs may also be produced as a racial epithet by combining a general-purpose insult with the name of ethnicity. Common insulting modifiers include "dog", "pig", "dirty" and "filthy"; such terms are not included in this list.

A

Term	Location or origin	Targets	Meaning, origin and notes	References
Abbie, Abe, Abie	United States, Canada	Jewish men	Originated before the 1950s. From the proper name Abraham.
ABC	East Asia	American-born Chinese, Han or other Chinese born and raised in the United States.	The term implies an otherness or lack of connection to their Chinese identity and Chinese language; however, it has been reappropriated by many Chinese Americans and used to convey positive connotations.
ABCD	South Asians in the US	American-Born Confused Desi, Indian Americans or other South Asian Americans, who were born in the United States.	Used chiefly by South Asian immigrants to imply confusion about cultural identity
Abid / Abeed	Middle East and North Africa	Black people	Arabic word for slave
Abo / Abbo	Australia	Australian Aboriginal person	Originally, this was simply an informal term for Aborigine, and was in fact used by Aboriginal people themselves until it started to be considered offensive in the 1950s. Although Abo is still considered quite offensive by many, the pejorative boong is now more commonly used when the intent is deliberately to offend, as that word's status as an insult is unequivocal.
Afro engineering, African engineering or nigger rigging	United States	African Americans	Shoddy, second-rate or unconventional, makeshift workmanship. Indirectly refers to black American people as worse or lower-valued than white American people when associating anything bad with them.
Ah Chah	Hong Kong	South Asian people	From ; cy=achā; from "acchā" meaning "good" or "OK" in Hindi.
Ali Baba	United States	Iraqi people	An Iraqi suspected of criminal activity.
Alligator bait, 'gator bait	United States	Black people, especially black children	Dates from early 20th century or before; implies that African Americans are good for nothing except being used to bait alligators
AmaLawu, AmaQheya	South Africa	Khoisans and Cape Coloureds or Coloureds	Xhosa words for Hottentot
Amalek, Amalekite	Israel	Palestinians	Amalek were an ancient people, but many Israeli Jews use it as a dehumanizing term to justify the Gaza genocide.
Ang mo	Malaysia, Singapore	European people, especially the Dutch	Hokkien for "red hair" referring to Dutch people from the 17th century and expanded to encompass other Europeans by the 19th century. It has become a neutral term, though is sometimes seen as derogatory.
Ann	United States, Canada	White women, "white-acting" black women	While Miss Ann, also just plain Ann, is a derisive reference to white women, it is also applied to any black woman who is deemed to be acting as though she is white.
Annamite, mites	French, English	Vietnamese people
Ape	United States	Black people	Referring to outdated theories ascribing cultural differences between racial groups as being linked to their evolutionary distance from chimpanzees, with which humans share common ancestry.
Apple	United States, Canada	Native Americans	First used in the 1970s. Someone who is "red on the outside, white on the inside". Used primarily by other Native Americans to indicate someone who has lost touch with their cultural identity.
Arapis ; feminine: arapissa, arapena		Black people and Arabs	From Turkish arap for "Arab" or, colloquially, "dark-skinned-person"
Arabush / Araboosh / Aravush	Israel	Arabs	Arabs, derived from Hebrew "Aravi".
Argie / Argies	United Kingdom	Argentine people	Extensively used by the British soldiers during the Falklands War in 1982.
Armo	United States	Armenian / Armenian American	Especially used in Southern California.
Asing, Aseng	Indonesia	Non-Indonesian people, especially Chinese people	Insult to non-Indonesian citizen, from " asing" that rhymed with "Aseng". This word is often directed at Chinese people due to Indonesia's relationship with the PRC.
Ashke-Nazi	Israel	Ashkenazi Jews	Pronounced like "AshkeNatzi". Used mostly by Mizrachi Jews.
Aunt Jemima / Aunt Jane / Aunt Mary / Aunt Sally	United States	Black women	A black woman who "kisses up" to whites, a "sellout", female counterpart of Uncle Tom.

B

Term	Location or origin	Targets	Meaning, origin and notes	References
Bachicha	Chile	Italian people	Possibly derived from the Italian word Baciccia, a nickname for Giambattista.
Baiano	Brazil	Northeastern Brazilian people	A person born in Bahia, one of the 9 states in the Northeast Region of Brazil. As a slur, it refers generically to any Northeastern person. Used mainly in São Paulo, the term is related to the Northeastern immigration of the second half of the 20th century.
Balija	Turkey, the Balkans	Bosnian people	An ethnic Bosniak or a member of the Bosnian diaspora. Not to be confused with Balija.
Bamboula	France	Black people
Bambus	Poland	Black people, sometimes Asian people	Literally it means bamboo in Polish but most probably it's derived from a popular children's poem Murzynek Bambo.
Banaan	Suriname	Black people, people of African descent	Dutch: Banana. A slur that is used to refer to black people, people of African heritage. It derives from the colour of a banana's skin, which is yellow or brown, and is therefore seen as an offensive way to describe black and coloured people's skin colour.
Banana	United States, Canada	East or Southeast Asian people	"Yellow on the outside, white on the inside". Used primarily by East or Southeast Asians for other East- or Southeast Asians or Asian Americans who are perceived as assimilated into mainstream American culture. Similar to Apple.
Banderite	Poland	Ukrainians	The term Banderite was originally used to refer to the ultra-nationalist wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, in reference to its leader Stepan Bandera. In Poland, the term "banderowiec" is used in connection with the massacres of Poles in Volhynia by the UPA. The term became a crucial element of Soviet propaganda and was used as a pejorative description of Ukrainian nationalists, or sometimes western Ukrainians or Ukrainian-speakers. Today the term is used in Russian propaganda to associate Ukrainian politics with Nazism.
Barbarian	Greece	Non-Greek people	Someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. βάρβαρος. In Ancient Greece, the Greeks used the term towards those who did not speak Greek and follow classical Greek customs.
Barya / Bareya	Ethiopia, Eritrea	Enslaved sub-Saharan Africans racially considered non-Ethiopian	The term Barya originally referred to the Nara people, and through centuries of slave raiding and social stratification it came to mean “slave” in Amharic and related languages.
Beaner / Beaney	United States	Hispanic or Latino people, especially Mexicans	The term originates from the use of frijoles pintos and other beans that can be generally found in Mexican food or other Hispanic and Latino foods.
Bimbo	German	Africans, people with very dark skin in general	The origin of this term is disputed, but experts suggest that it either derives from the Central African town of Bimbo, or from the former state of Bimbia, which was annexed by the German colony of Kamerun.
Bing / Binghi	Australia	Aboriginal Australians	"Binghi" was originally an aboriginal word for "brother". Later generalized to all Aboriginal Australians.
Black Buck, black brute, brown buck or brown brute	United States	Black men	Originating in the post-Reconstruction United States, it was used to describe black men who absolutely refused to bend to the law of white authority and were seen as irredeemably violent, rude, and lecherous.
Blackie	English	Black person
Blatte	Sweden	Foreigners with dark skin
Bluegum	United States	African Americans	An African American perceived as being lazy and unwilling to work.
Boche	France; United States; United Kingdom	German people	Shortened from the French term caboche dure, meaning "hard head" or "cabbage head" with the influence of German surname Bosch.
Boeotian	Athenians	Boeotian Greek people	Referring to the supposed stupidity of the inhabitants of the neighboring Boeotia region of Greece.
Boerehater / Boer-hater / Boer hater	South Africa; United Kingdom	British people	Refers to a person who hates, prejudices, or criticizes the Boers, or Afrikaners – historically applied to British people who held anti-Boers sentiments.
Bog / Bogtrotter / Bog-trotter	United Kingdom, Ireland, United States	Irish people	A person of common or low-class Irish ancestry.
Bogate	Chile	Yugoslav people	The expression is said to come from the Yugoslav interjection Boga ti!
	United States, Canada	Bohemian people	A lower-class immigrant of Central, Eastern, or Southeastern European descent. Originally referred to those of Bohemian descent. It was commonly used toward Central European immigrants during the early 20th century. Probably from Bohemian + a distortion of Hungarian. See also hunky.
Bolita	Argentina	Bolivians
Bong	India	Bengali people
Boong / Boang / Bong / Bung	Australia	Aboriginal Australians	. Boong, pronounced with ʊ, is related to the Australian English slang word bung, meaning "dead", "infected", or "dysfunctional". From bung, to go bung "Originally to die, then to break down, go bankrupt, cease to function ". The 1988 edition of the Australian National Dictionary gives its origin in the Wemba word for "man" or "human being". However, Frederick Ludowyk of the Australian National Dictionary Centre wrote in 2004 that bong meaning "dead" is not a Wiradjuri word, but may have been picked up or assumed from the word "bung" which was originally a Yagara word which was used in the pidgin widely spoken across Australia in colonial times.
Boonga / boong / bunga / boonie	New Zealand	Pacific Islanders	Likely derived from the similar Australian slur
Bootlip	United States	African American people
Bougnoule	France, Wolof	Arabian people, North Africans, Black people	Analogous to Wog or Raghead, originally was used against Black people but broadened to brown Arabs
Bounty bar	United Kingdom	Black people	A black person who is considered to be behaving like a white person.
Bozgor	Romania	Hungarian people	Used especially on ones born in Romania. Possibly derived from the Moldavian Csángó dialect pronunciation of bocskor meaning Opanak, a type of rustic footwear.
Brillo Pad	United States	Black People	Used to refer to the hair of a black person
Brownie	United States, New Zealand, and Australia	Brown-skinned people, an Asian	Used in the 1850s–1960s; in Australia it was used for an Aboriginal Australian or someone Japanese; in New Zealand, a Māori
Buckwheat	United States	Black people	The name of a black character that appeared in the Our Gang short films. Today it is used to refer to the curly hair of a black person.
Buddhahead	United States	Asian people	Also used by mainland Japanese Americans to refer to Hawaiian Japanese Americans since World War II.
Buckra, Bakra	United States, West Indies	White people from Sub-Saharan African languages
Bulbash	Russia, Ukraine	Belarusians	Derived from Belarusian word "bulba", based on the fact that potatoes are a very common ingredient in Belarusian cuisine.
Bule	Indonesia	White people or foreigner	Derived from an archaic Indonesian word for albino.
Bumbay	Philippines	People from India	From Bombay
Burrhead / Burr-head / Burr head	United States	Black people	Referencing Afro-textured hair.
Bushy / Bushies, Amadushie	South Africa	Khoisans	Historically used against the Khoisan people in Southern Africa, referring to their nomadic lifestyle and reliance on the bush for survival.