Empires and Imperialism

Term	Contextual note	Time/Region	References
acquired acquisition attain attained discovered found obtained possessed gifted given	Euphemistic terms often used to distort the fact that an item/artefact was looted or stolen, or taken through other coercive means.
Af/s	Derogatory term used by white settlers in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) towards Black people.	Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia), Africa	Owl apps – List of ethnic slurs by ethnicity
Africana	Term still used by some institutions in the USA and Canada today to refer to materials or collectible objects (books, documents, artefacts) related to the African continent. May be considered outdated.	Africa, USA
allochtoon/s alochtoon/s	Dutch term meaning “from another soil”, translates as “immigrant”. An individual’s specific self-identity would be preferred, i.e. Moroccan-Dutch, Surinamese-Dutch, or Dutch person of [x] background	Netherlands	Tropenmuseum – Words Matter
amulet/s charm/s trinket/s magic voodoo hoodoo talisman mojo juju	Terms that are often incorrectly used to exoticise items/artefacts from non-European cultures.	world
Anglo-Indian/s Anglo Indian/s Angloindian/s	From the 18th to the early 20th century, the term “Anglo-Indian” was used to refer to British people working in India. In 1911 the term first appeared in the Indian Census to denote people of mixed South Asian and European heritage. It is important to distinguish between these two uses for the sake of clarity: be clear when you are describing i) white British personnel in India and ii) a person of mixed (maternal) South Asian and (paternal) European heritage. In the Government of India Act of 1935, an Anglo-Indian was formally identified as “a person whose father or any of whose other male progenitors in the male line is or was of European descent but who is a native of India.” This definition therefore excludes people with Indian fathers and white mothers, who existed in small numbers but were denied recognition. The Anglo-Indian community traces their origins back to the earliest contact between Europe and India in the late 1400s. Also see “kutcha butcha” (in South Asia)	1700-1950, South Asia, India, British Empire, mixed race history	Brittanica – Anglo-Indian Wikipedia – Kutcha butcha Carissa Chew - British colonial constructions of the “half-caste” category in world-historical perspective
annamite/s mite/s	A French-origin term used by the U.S. Army as a derogatory name for Vietnamese people.	Vietnam, USA	Wikipedia – List of ethnic slurs
ape/s monkey/s baboon/s gorilla/s chimpanzee/s chimp/s orangutan/s simian/s primate/s missing link/s	Racist comparisons of Black and Asian people to simians are rooted in 19th century evolutionary pseudoscientific theory. These racist ideas purported the idea that African and Asian people were sub-human or “less evolved”, or even the belief that they were the “missing link” between humans and apes. Cartoons depicting the Japanese and Irish as monkeys were popular in the USA in the 20th century.	1800-	Noel Carroll – Ethnicity, Race, and Monstrosity
Aryan/s Aryanism	The “Aryan race” is a historical racial concept that emerged in the late 19th century to describe people of Indo-European heritage. It was understood as a ‘“subrace” of the “Caucasian race”. The ideology of “Aryanism” reached its peak of influence in Nazi Germany. It is a pseudoscientific concept that has no reality. The term “Aryan”, however, was originally used as a self-designation by Indo-Iranian people who are believed to have invaded northern India in the 2nd millennium BC (there is some debate around this). In this conception, it was a linguistic, cultural, and linguistic identity, not a “racial”’ one (as it came to be conceived in 20th century Nazi Germany). The term “Indo-Aryan” is therefore still commonly used to describe the Indic half of the Indo-Iranian languages.	1800-, Europe, South Asia, India, Holocaust, Germany, history of science	Wikipedia – Aryan Wikipedia - Aryanism Wikipedia – Aryan race
Asian flu (LCSH)	1957–1958 influenza pandemic.		Shu Wan - Cataloging ‘Asian Flu’ is Creating Racial Knowledge
askari/s	Derived from “Lascar”. “Askari is a loan word from the Persian عسكري ('ʿaskarī'), meaning "soldier". The Persian word is a derivation from the Middle Persian word lashkar, meaning "army". The word "lashkar" also is the root of the word Lascar for a South Asian soldier or a person of South Asian origin.” It has been suggested that “soldier” might be more appropriate.	South Asia, Africa	Wikipedia – Askari
bamboula	French pejorative for people of African heritage.	France, Africa	Wikipedia – List of ethnic slurs
barbajie	The Dutch term “barbajie”, related to the English word ”barbarian”,  was used in cartography and travel accounts about North Africa.	Netherlands, North Africa, Dutch Empire
barbarian/s	Pejorative meaning “uncivilised”. The term “barbarian” has its roots in antiquity, meaning someone with an unfamiliar language or culture.		Tropenmuseum – Words Matter Wikipedia – List of ethnic slurs
basuto	An outdated colonial term for the Sotho people – otherwise known as Basotho – who are a Bantu nation native to southern Africa.	southern Africa
berber/s	A term used to describe several groups of people living in Northern Africa. The term is used by some people who self-identify as “Berber”, and is still used by the Library of Congress, but it is increasingly falling out of favour as more people use the preferred term Amazigh (plural: Imazighen).	North Africa	Tropenmuseum – Words Matter Wikipedia - Berber https://www.linguisticanthropology.org/blog/2019/09/23/respecting-identity-amazigh-versus-berber/
béni-oui-oui	French pejorative for Algerian Muslims used during the French colonisation of Algeria.	1830-1962, France, Algeria	Owl apps – List of ethnic slurs by ethnicity
bi-racial biracial half-caste/s halfcaste half caste half-breed/s half breed/s half-blood/s half blood/s hybrid/s hybridity cross-breed/s cross breed mutt/s mongrol/s mongrel/s multi-racial multiracial mixed-race mixed race mixed tri-racial triracial inter-racial interracial quadroon octoroon mullato/s/es mestizo Mestico Mustees Mestiz creole mixed heritage chabin/chabine Di colore (Early Rome) hāfu (“half”, Japan) Daburu (“double”, Japan) hapa (“half”, Hawaiʻi) Nusu nusu (“half”, Kiswahili, East Africa) chotara (“half caste”, Kiswahili, East Africa)	Terms for mixed race people, many of which are perceived as derogatory through implication that these people are less than “whole”. In the UK, the terms “mixed race” and “multiracial” tend to be used interchangeably, but are criticised for being homogenising. Always honour a person’s self-identity and be specific, when appropriate i.e Person of [x] and [x] heritage. The order in which an individual lists their ethnic identities may be important to them. In contexts such as Australia and Hawai’i where blood quantum policies have been enforced it is especially important not to quantify the degree to which a person is Aboriginal/Native i.e. do not use measures like “half” or “quarter” to describe someone’s ethnic heritage.	Mixed-race history
black/s the blacks	The term “black” has multiple meanings in different contexts.  Most commonly, it is used to refer to people of African descent, in which case it should usually be capitalised. In European sources, the term “black” has been used to describe many different non-African people of colour. In South Asia, it is sometimes used to describe South Asian people with darker skin. In Australia, it has been used to refer to Aboriginal peoples. In Hawaiʻi it has been used to refer to native Hawaiians. The pluralised forms “blacks” or “the blacks” is sometimes still used in the USA today (exemplified in LCSH), but it is less common in the UK where it is widely perceived as dehumanising.		P. Gabrielle Foreman et al. Writing about “Slavery”? This might help PCUSA Terminology Crosswalk Black Cultural Archives Glossary Tropenmuseum – Words Matter Archives for Black Lives in Philadelphia: Anti-Racist Description Resources Baquet, Dean, and Phil Corbett. ‘Uppercasing “Black.”’ New York Times Company, June 30, 2020.
blackmoore/s blackamoor/s		17th century, England
blank/s	A synonym for ‘white’ in the Netherlands that means “unblemished”.	Dutch Empire, Netherlands	Tropenmuseum – Words Matter
blijvers burgers	Terms used to describe mixed-race people of European (Dutch, Portuguese, English) heritage in Southeast Asia	Southeast Asia,	Ho, Engseng.“Inter-Asian Concepts for Mobile Societies,” The Journal of Asian Studies 76 (2017): 907-928, p.916.
Boer/s Boere (Afrikaans)	“Boers” refers to the Afrikaans-speaking descendants of the first Dutch settlers in South Africa. “Afrikaners” has been the preferred term since the Second Boer War. “Boer” literally means “farmer” in Dutch and isn’t itself explicitly offensive, but anti-Boer hatred was expressed by British people from the 1700s onwards. Not to be confused with the “Orlam Afrikaners”, a group of mixed-race individuals in South Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries.	South Africa, British Empire	Africas a Country - Afrikaners
Boer hater Boer-hater Boerhater Boerehaat (Afrikaans)	Term meaning “ethnic hatred of Boers” that has historically been used to refer to (mostly British) people who were prejudiced against the Boers or Afrikaners from the 1700s onwards. The term itself is not offensive but may be useful for locating materials exemplifying anti-Boer prejudice.	South Africa, British Empire	Wikipedia - Boerehaat Wikipedia – List of ethnic slurs
Brazil--History--Revolution, 1964 (LCSH)	Correct subject heading: Brazil--History--Coup d'état, 1964. The military dictators referred to this as a democratic revolution when it happened (and the U.S. government initially did as well), but historians, political scientists, and others have long agreed that this was a military coup d`etat. The only places where you see it referred to as a revolution are in formal language created by the military dictators. I have also used the term used by children of exiled military dictators.	Brazil	Cataloging Lab - Problem LCSH
brute/s brutish	Dehumanising term used by Europeans to describe various non-white populations	world
bush Negro bush-negro bosch neger bushman/men bushwoman/women	Pejorative Dutch term for Africans (and their descendants) who escaped from enslavement in Suriname and the Guyanas and settled in inaccessible interior/mountain areas.	Dutch Empire, South America, Suriname, Guyana, British Guiana	Tropenmuseum – Words Matter
casta/s las castas kasta/s limpieza de sangre purity of blood	A Spanish and Portuguese term meaning “lineage”. The Sistema de castas (system of castes) or Sociedad de castas (society of castes) refers to the colonial caste system of Latin America that was create in response to racial intermixture. This racial hierarchy wasn’t strictly rigid, as some individuals were able to move from one category to another. The casta system was based on the historic concept of ‘limpieza de sangre’ (purity of blood). ‘Casta paintings’ were a popular phenomena in the eighteenth century.	Latin America, mixed race history	Wikipedia - Casta
caste untouchables scheduled castes dalit harijan	The English word “caste” was developed in the Early Modern period from the Spanish and Portuguese term “casta”, meaning “clan or lineage”. “Caste” most often refers to the hereditary classes of the Hindu caste system based on ideas of ritual “purity” and “pollution”. There are four theoretical classifications, called Varna, based on natural social groupings called Jāti. The four groups are Brahmins (scholars and yajna priests), Kshatriyas (rulers and warriors), Vaishyas (farmers, merchants and artisans) and Shudras (workmen/service providers).  Outside of these categories are the “untouchables”, the lowest ranking group in Hindu society. Today, they are known as “Scheduled Tribes” or “Dalits”. Caste-based oppression is a major form of discrimination in Indian society.	India, South Asia	Tropenmuseum – Words Matter
Caucasian/s Caucasian race	In the 19th century, the term ‘Caucasian’ was used as a racial designation for white-skinned people of European origin. Today, the term Caucasian is only used to refer to a person from the geographical Caucasus region. The term ‘“Caucasian” or “Caucasian race” should not be used as a synonym for “white”.	Europe, history of science	Tropenmuseum – Words Matter
Celestial Celestial Empire	Derogatory term for Chinese people, deriving from “Celestial Empire”, used in Australia and elsewhere.	China	Owl apps – List of ethnic slurs by ethnicity The Racial Slur Database - Celestial
Chankoro (Japanese) Shinajin	“Chankoro” is a derogatory Japanese term for a Chinese person that translates to “slaves of Qing”.		Wikipedia – List of ethnic slurs Urban dictionary - Chankoro
Charlie Victor Charlie Viet Cong VC	Derogatory term used by American troops in the Vietnam War as shorthand for communist guerrillas.	USA, Vietnam	Owl apps – List of ethnic slurs by ethnicity
Charou	A derogatory Afrikaans slang for Indians that now is used as an affectionate and culturally intimate term.	South Africa	Hansen, Thomas Blom. “In Search of the Diasporic Self: Bollywood in South Africa,” in Raminder Kaur and Ajay J Sinha, editors, Bollyworld: Popular Indian Cinema Through A Transnational Lens, 2005.
Chinaman Chinamen John Chinaman	Archaic term for Chinese people, widely considered derogatory today although some Asian Americans self-identify with the term. In the words of Kimberly Yam, “the term has its roots in the 19th century and was largely used to dehumanise Chinese immigrants”. The term appears in 19th century British texts but most notably, it was used in the gold-rush and railway construction eras in western North America (1848-1955) and Australia, in which Chinese labourers were poorly paid and subjected to dangerous working conditions. The idiom “A Chinaman’s chance in hell” refers to how Chinese American labourers were given the most dangerous jobs in the Central Pacific Railroad. In the USA, the term “John Chinaman” was also a generic name used to stereotype Asian Americans at the start of the 20th century. The term "Chinaman" emerged during the 19th century when there was a significant influx of Chinese immigrants to Western countries, particularly the United States. The term "Chinaman" was commonly used during that time as a racial slur and derogatory term to refer to people of Chinese descent. It was part of a broader set of racial stereotypes and discriminatory attitudes prevalent in Western societies towards Chinese immigrants. As a result of two Opium Wars, where the British colonial powers were strategically smuggling opium from their South Asian colonies into Chinese ports against the wishes of the Chinese government in the mid-nineteenth century, Britain and France forced the Qing government to authorise a massive exodus of Chinese labourers to western countries and their colonies to replace enslaved Africans. This was the beginning of the dispersion of the Chinese across the world – from Southeast Asia to America, Africa, Europe, and Australia. These Chinese immigrants were paid poorly and were made to work in risky and unsafe conditions, whilst they were subjected to other racial abuses. The idiom “A Chinaman’s chance in hell” refers to how Chinese American labourers were given the most dangerous jobs in the Central Pacific Railroad. It was in this context that the term ‘Chinaman’ was used in a derogatory way to dehumanise Chinese people based on their ethnicity.	1711-	https://reappropriate.co/2014/07/yes-the-term-chinaman-is-derogatory/ PCUSA Terminology Crosswalk Wikipedia – List of ethnic slurs & Chinaman Owl apps – List of ethnic slurs by ethnicity https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202306/1292237.shtml https://web.archive.org/web/20070206101157/ http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0JAS/is_5_30/ai_79304994 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/is-the-term-chinaman-chinese-americans_b_5560288 Umulkhayr Mohamed, Senior Learning Officer, Amgueddfa Cymru. https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/overseas-chinese-long-history-0
Chinaman’s nightcap	Derogatory term towards Chinese people used to reference opium. It was a negative racist stereotype that Chinese people were addicted to opium and gambling.		https://web.archive.org/web/20071010045849/http://www.asianweek.com/070998/news.html
Chinese New Year (LCSH)	Also include Lunar New Year		Cataloging Lab - Problem LCSH
chink/s chinky chinki (South Asia) chonky ching chong	Highly offensive ethnic slur towards people of East Asian descent. Regarded as the “c-word” for some Asian Americans today. Its etymology is debated, with some tracing it to the Chinese courtesy ching-ching, and others saying it derived from the name of the Qing (Ch’ing) dynasty. The term “chinky” first appeared in print in 1878.	1878-	Wikipedia - Chink
circus
colour color complexion/s skin colour/s dark dark skin dark skinned dark-skinned black skin black skinned black-skinned skin features racial features	These terms are not necessarily discriminatory, but might be indicative of racially harmful content so are worth including in a key word term audit of collections.
Coloured people Coloured/s Colored/s Cape Coloureds	“Coloureds” historically referred to mixed race people of Black and white heritage in South Africa and Zimbabwe (formerly Southern Rhodesia). Today, the term “Coloureds” is officially used by the South African government to describe anyone with mixed heritage, including those with South Asian and East Asian heritage. Mixed-race children in Southern Rhodesia were formally known as “Cape Coloureds” until the 1930s and “Coloureds” thereafter. The term “Colored” was also historically used in the USA for African American people. It is now deemed discriminatory although continues to be used in some official titles such as The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The term “coloured” or “coloured people” is deemed derogatory in the UK today. In this context, the preferred term is “people of colour”.	UK, Zimbabwe, Southern Rhodesia, South Africa, USA	PCUSA Terminology Crosswalk Tropenmuseum – Words Matter
coolie/s kuli/s	Derived from the Hindi word quli meaning “day worker” or Mandarin word ku li, a controversial term used to describe untrained contract/indentured labourers from Asia who in the 1850s worked in the Dutch East Indies and Suriname as well as contract labourers, especially from India, working in British colonised regions of the Caribbean and East and South Africa. The term is still used as a term of abuse towards people of African descent. “Coolie” is also a racial epithet for Indo-Caribbean people especially in Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, South Africa, and South African Indians.		Tropenmuseum – Words Matter Wikipedia – List of ethnic slurs Owl apps – List of ethnic slurs by ethnicity
costume/s garb	The term “costume” is sometimes used discriminately to describe non-Western clothing, which can be Othering and exoticising.
creature/s	Term used to dehumanise non-European people.		PCUSA Terminology Crosswalk
Creole/s Créole (French) Crioulo (Portuguese)	“Creole” has multiple meanings, being used to describe: 1)    people (i.e. Europeans)  who were born into diasporic communities in the colonies 2)    people of mixed heritage born in the colonies as a result of colonial migration patterns 3) a language that has arisen from simplifying and mixing different languages	Caribbean, mixed race history	PCUSA Terminology Crosswalk
curio/s curiosity/ies knickknack/s Knick knack/s knick-knack/s	A European term for objects considered “bizarre” and “unusual”, often used to exoticise non-European items/artefacts.		PCUSA Terminology Crosswalk
darkie/s darky darkey	Derogatory term for people of colour.		Tropenmuseum – Words Matter
dinge	Derogatory term meaning “black”
discover/y/ed explorer/s/ed Exploration Discovery and exploration (LSCH)	“Discovery” is not a neutral term when used to describe the European ‘discovery’ of places that were previously inhabited by non-European people. Its usage implies that these places did not exist, or were not significant, until known by Europeans. Also not appropriate when referring to scientific “discoveries” that were already known to non-European people. Incorrect usage perpetuates Eurocentrism. The Cambridge Dictionary still defines “explorer” as “someone who travels to a place where no one has ever been”, which shows how inappropriate the term is. Discovery is acceptable when accurately used to describe scientific discovery, exploration is acceptable when referring to geographic exploration although a disclaimer may be needed. An alternative phrase would be “the first European to travel to”.		Tropenmuseum – Words Matter Cataloging Lab - Problem LCSH
East Indians	Sometimes mistakenly shortened to “Indian” or “South Asian”		Cataloging Lab – Problem LCSH
East Indies
ethnic ethnicity/ies	Whilst it may seem a neutral category, it is often used to describe someone or something different from the norm or foreign i.e. “ethnic music”, “ethnic food”. Nevertheless, some people self-identify in this way. “Ethnicity” is not to be confused with “race”. “Race” is a pseudoscientific concept that refers to shared phenotypic characteristics such as skin colour. Ethnicity takes into account shared social, cultural, or historical experiences and practices of a group of people.		Tropenmuseum – Words Matter
Ethnic arts (LCSH)			Cataloging Lab – Problem LCSH
eugenic/s eugenicist/s degeneracy degeneration racial degeneration racial deterioration racial improvement	A movement prevalent in the later half of the 19th century and first half of the 20th century. Based on the writings of Francis Galton, eugenicists believed in the sterilisation or even euthanasia of disabled people and others such as the mentally ill or “morally degenerate” to prevent what they described as “racial deterioration” or “degeneracy”.	1850-	Historic England - Disability Glossary
Eurafrican	Term for mixed-race people used in 20th century Central/Southern Africa. Trying to escape the “half-caste” label in Zambia (formerly Northern Rhodesia), many mixed-race individuals self-identified as “Eurafrican” because they felt it politically important to stress their direct descent from Europeans.	Northern Rhodesia, Zambia	Carissa Chew - British colonial constructions of the “half-caste” category in world-historical perspective
Eurasian	Term for some mixed-race people, used in South and Southeast Asia for example. The term is generally considered outdated, however, it is worth noting that when the British officially introduced the term “Anglo-Indian” to the Indian census in 1911, it caused tension with people of mixed European and Indian ancestry who self-identified as “Eurasian”, some of whom continued to use this term as a means of defiance.		Ho, Engseng.“Inter-Asian Concepts for Mobile Societies,” The Journal of Asian Studies 76 (2017): 907-928, p.916. Carissa Chew - British colonial constructions of the “half-caste” category in world-historical perspective
exotic	“Exotic” literally means “from the outside” in Ancient Greek, but it means foreign/alien today and has become intertwined with colonial ideas about non-white people as racialised and sexualised Others. Exotic is applicable when referring to flora/fauna species. It is not an appropriate term to describe people of colour.
Far East
Fetishism	Preferred subject heading: Figure sculpture, African OR Ceremonial objects. “Fetishes" and "Fetish figures" were applied to African objects by European colonisers as a condescending interpretation of African culture. More accurate language is available to describe the objects.	Africa	Cataloging Lab – Problem LCSH http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/journals/conservation-journal/issue-31/the-function-of-a-fetish-figure/
fuzzies fuzzy wuzzy fuzzy-wuzzy fuzzy wuzzy angels	A colonialist term used to refer to the Hadendoa warriors (or Hadendoa Beja) of Sudan and Eritrea in the nineteenth century, referring to the distinctive hairstyle called dirwa or tiffa. The term was popularised in Rudyard Kipling's 1892 poem "Fuzzy-Wuzzy", which produced racist stereotypes of the Hadendoa soldiers who fought the British Army in Sudan and Eritrea during the Mahdist War (1881-1899).The term “fuzzies” has since been used to refer to Black people more generally, appearing in Tintin, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Dad's Army, and the 1964 film Zulu. In the Second World War, Australian soldiers also used the term “Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels” to describe Papua New Guinean stretcher bearers.	North Africa, Sudan, Egypt, Eritrea, Papua New Guinea	Wikipedia – List of ethnic slurs Owl apps – List of ethnic slurs by ethnicity Wikipedia – Fuzzy-Wuzzy https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/fuzzy-wuzzy.html
God (Islam) (LCSH)	Allah		Cataloging Lab - Problem LCSH https://youtu.be/eSNW2gQVJXc?t=1920
gook/s	A derogatory term for East Asians, particularly aimed towards Japanese and Koreans. Its use as an ethnic slur towards Koreans has been traced to U.S. Marines serving in the Philippines in the early 20th century. In 1920, it was reported that US Marines used the term to refer to Haitians. A dictionary in 1935 defined a “gook” as “Anyone who speaks Spanish, particularly Filipino”.	USA	Owl apps – List of ethnic slurs by ethnicity Wikipedia - gook
hairyback/s hairy back/s	South African term for Afrikaners	South Africa	Collins dictionary – hairyback
Hand-to-hand fighting, Oriental (LCSH)	Say Shaolin martial arts, if that is what is being referenced.		Cataloging Lab - Problem LCSH
headhunter/s head-hunter/s head hunter/s	Historically the term has been used to describe someone who participated in the ritual practice of taking trophy heads, for example during times of war.. Headhunting has long been represented in popular culture to give the impression of primitive, wild, cruel and bloodthirsty tribal peoples of the jungle. This portrayal misrepresents the significant ritual role it had for the proper functioning of those societies that practiced it. Shuar and Achuar people are from the rainforests of Ecuador and Peru, and were derogatorily referred to as “headhunters”	Ecuador, Peru	Tropenmuseum – Words Matter Pitt Rivers Museum - Shrunken heads
hindostanee
Host society	When describing diaspora, it is not preferred to use “host society” when you are talking about a country that is their home.
hottentot/s Hotentot black venus hottentot venus Vénus noire (French) Venus noire hotnot hodmandod	A Dutch colonial term, first used in the 17th century, to describe the Khoikhoi people who live in the western part of South Africa and modern-day Namibia . Europeans stereotyped the Khoikhoi people as oversexed, culturally primitive, and believed that they were at the bottom of the “racial ladder”, most closely related to the orangutan. In the late 19th century, the “Hottentot Venus” was a popular circus and “freak show” act across Europe, in which a Khoisan woman with a genetic condition known as steatopygia was forced to display her enlarged buttocks to white audiences. The most famous “Hottentot Venus” was Saartjie (“Sarah”) Baartman (1789-1815), whose human remains were on display at Musee de l’Homme until 1976. The etymology of “Hottentot” is unclear. One theory is that it has its roots in the Dutch expression for “stammer” or “stutter”. Another is that it is an imitation of the sounds of the Khoisan languages. “Hodmandod” is an early Anglicised form that appears around 1700. The Afrikaans variation “hotnot” is used as a racial slur towards mixed-race people  (“coloured”) in South Africa today. Khoikhoi people or Khoisan would be the preferred term. There is a plant named “hottentot fig”.	Dutch Empire, British Empire, French Empire, 1690-, South Africa, Namibia	Tropenmuseum – Words Matter Wikipedia – Hottentot (term)
hun/s hun hunting	A contemptuous term used to refer to Germans, especially German soldiers, in WWI and WWII.	Germany, WWI, WWII, 1914-	Dictionary.com – Hun
Inboorling	Term meaning “native” used in the Netherlands from the 13th century onwards that also has connotations of “primitive” and “wild”. In the early 19th century, it was used by some to describe all Indonesians, but it was later ascribed only to so-called “tribal” people in Dutch colonies.	Indonesia, Dutch empire	Tropenmuseum – Words Matter
Indian/s	A term that can be used ambiguously to describe both people from the Indian subcontinent as well as the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is important to distinguish the two. In the Indian subcontinent context, Indians or South Asians is the correct term for people from the country of British India and modern-day India (i.e. since Independence, people from contemporary Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Pakistan no longer identify as “Indian”). In the USA context, Native Americans is acceptable, although specific ethnic/linguistic/national/religious identity is preferred.	South Asia, USA	Tropenmuseum – Words Matter
Indisch	Not to be confused with “Indonesian”. The term “Indisch” has changed its meaning over time. In the 19th century it referred to anything Indonesian. In the 20th century it started to refer to Indo-European people and cultures and sometimes to European people who lived in Indonesia for a long period of time. At the end of the 20th century, the term started to be criticised. Today, the word refers to anything coming from the colonial period in the former Dutch East Indies.	Indonesia, Dutch Empire	Tropenmuseum – Words Matter
indigenous	The term, like “native”, describes a specific group of people who identify with a place as an original homeland and have developed long-standing traditions in that place. The term has historically been used to homogenise people of colour, however. Specific ethnic/racial/national identity preferred. Indigenous peoples (with a capital “I”) is usually acceptable if further information is unknown.		Tropenmuseum – Words Matter PCUSA Terminology Crosswalk
Indo	Not to be confused with “Indonesian”. An abbreviation for Indo-European. The term emerged in the colonial period to describe people of mixed Indonesian and European (Dutch) descent.	Indonesia, Dutch Empire	Tropenmuseum – Words Matter
interracial sex miscegenation	Harmful when this terminology has historically been used to obscure sexual violence, rape, assault, and coercion under slavery. Sexual violence, sexual assault, rape, coercion under slavery. Stemming from anxieties about the amalgamation of Black and white communities in the United States of America, the term “miscegenation” was coined in 1864 to denote what white people perceived as the undesirable phenomenon of the “interbreeding of races”.		P. Gabrielle Foreman et al. Writing about “Slavery”? This might help David G. Croly, et al., Miscegenation; the theory of the blending of the races, applied to the American white man and negro (New York: H. Dexter, Hamilton & Co., 1864). Peggy Pascoe, What Comes Naturally: Miscegenation Law and the Making of Race in America (Oxford University Press, 2010)
Jap	A pejorative abbreviated form of Japanese, especially offensive to Japanese Americans.	Japan, USA	Tropenmuseum – Words Matter Owl apps – List of ethnic slurs by ethnicity
Japanese internment camps	Incarceration of Japanese Americans in the USA during World War II. “Internment” is considered euphemistic. In this context, “forced removal” is also preferred over “evacuation” and “concentration camp” is preferred to “relocation center”.		Densho - Terminology
Jappenkampen	Generally, refers to the Japanese camps in Asia during WWII and the camps in Japanese-occupied Dutch East Indies in particular. The term is contested by some victims of their descendants.	Japan, Dutch Empire, Netherlands	Tropenmuseum – Words Matter
Jim Fish	Derogatory term for Black South Africans.	South Africa, British Empire	Owl apps – List of ethnic slurs by ethnicity Urban dictionary – Jim Fish
kaffir/s kafir/s kaffer/s kaffre/s caffire/s caffre/s Kaffir War/s Kaffirland British Kaffraria	Derives from the Arabic term “kafir”, meaning one without religion, referring to non-Muslims in the Arab peninsular. In South Africa, it was originally used in the 16th century to describe Black non-Muslim people and later to identify Bantu-speaking people, especially in the wars of conquest of the Eastern Cape. In Afrikaans, as in English, it became a label of Black people of African descent in general. The term gained its derogatory connotation in the Apartheid era, a context in which it is especially offensive, and is now understood as hate speech, sometimes referred to as an equivalent of the n-word. The “Kaffir Wars” are better known as the Xhosa Wars or Cape Frontier Wars. “Kaffraria” is the descriptive name given to the southeast part of what is today the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Kaffraria, i.e. “the land of the Kaffirs”, is no longer an official designation since “kaffir” is deemed a racial slur. Kaffir is only acceptable when referring to a group of Sri Lankan peoples with shared ancestry from Portuguese traders (or more broadly European) and enslaved Bantu peoples who self-identify in this way.	South Africa, Sri Lanka	Wikipedia – List of ethnic slurs Tropenmuseum – Words Matter Historical Dictionary of the British Empire - Kaffirs
Kanaka/s	“Kanakas” were indentured labourers from the Pacific Islands, especially Melanesians and Polynesians, employed in British colonies such as British Columbia (Canada), Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and Queensland (Australia) in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The term “kanaka”, which was once widely used in Australia, came to be regarded as an offensive term for a Pacific Islander. “Kānaka Maoli” or “Kānaka 'Ōiwi” are preferred terms for Native Hawaiians, sometimes shortened to “Kānaka”, however.	British Empire, Pacific Islands, Fiji, Canada, Australia, Hawaiʻi	Owl apps – List of ethnic slurs by ethnicity
Lascar/s Laskar/s Laskari Lascar Sally Calcutta Louise China-faced Nell	“Lascar” was a term used by Europeans to refer to indigenous sailors from the Indian Ocean region – including Arabs, Chinese, east Africans, Filipinos, Malays, and south Asians. (In the UK today, lascar is often mistakenly assumed to mean “Indian”) Etymologically, the term derives from the Persian/Urdu word “lashkar/lashkari”, meaning “soldier” or “army”, sharing its roots with the term “askari”. In the Indian subcontinent today, the term is generally used to mean “army” or “militia”. “Lascar” gained the connotation “mercenary” or “hired hand” before it came to be used to describe any kind of sailor. It is believed that it acquired this specific nautical meaning in the Portuguese language (“laschar” and “lasquirim”) in the 17th century. Ship records tell us that these male sailors, from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds, were mostly men in their 20s and 30s. They were believed to be excellent sailors, but were treated poorly, paid a fraction of what white sailors earnt, and subject to racialised abuse. There is evidence that lascars were a notable presence in London as early as the 17th century. Sailors were sometimes recruited through kidnapping and debt-bondage, and children that were sold into lascar servitude were sometimes abandoned in London and Glasgow. The Laskari language, which was used to communicate aboard ships, developed from English, Malay, Hindustani, Chinese, Malayalam, and other languages spoken on board. The Collins  English Dictionary defines lascar as “a sailor from the East Indies”. White women who had relationships with lascars were given derogatory nicknames like “Lascar Sally” and “Calcutta Louise”.	1600-, British Empire, India, South Asia, naval history	Ghosh, Amitav. “Of Fanas and Forecastles: The Indian Ocean and Some Lost Languages of the Age of Sail,” Economic and Political Weekly 43.25 (2008), 56-62. Rozina Visram, Ayahs, Lascars and Princes: Indians in Britain, 1700-1947. Pluto Press, London, 1986. Michael H. Fischer, Counterflows to Colonialism: Indian Travellers and Settlers in Britain, 1600-1857. Permanent Black, 2004. Our Migration Story - The Lascars Maritime History Archive - Lascars
Mappilas Moplah	“Creole” Muslim community in India, the descendants of Middle Eastern sailors, who were part of the Indian Ocean trade network.	South Asia, India	Ho, Engseng.“Inter-Asian Concepts for Mobile Societies,” The Journal of Asian Studies 76 (2017): 907-928, p.916. Hashim, Suhail. http://www.ihistory.co/the-mappilas-of-kerala/
maroon/s cimarrones cimarrón  (Spanish)	Used to refer to Africans (and their descendants) who escaped from slavery in the Americas, and settled in the inaccessible, interior/mountainous regions. The term is considered derogatory by some as it derived from the 16th century Spanish word cimarrón, meaning “runaway cattle”. “Maroon” has also been used by some as a term of empowerment, however. The term is accepted by most in Jamaica, for example, but only some in Surinam. Usage of “maroon” is generally accepted but, in the context of Surinam especially, it is preferred to use the specific names for each Maroon group i.e. Samaaka, Matawai, Aluku, Kwinti, Paamaka	Surinam, Jamaica
Mau Mau	Originally referred to Kenyans, mostly of the Kikuyu ethnicity, who were involved in the insurgency against British colonialists in the 1950s-60s known as the “Mau Mau rebellion”. This was the name that the British gave to the Land and Freedom Army (LFA) to give the impression that it was a savage cult rather than an organised rebellion against colonial oppression. The term was often used in the context of British anti-Mau Mau propaganda, which had racist overtones. The Mau Mau movement was violently suppressed by the British, who tortured and killed suspects in concentration camps. The term “Mau Mau” is sometimes also used out of context to suggest that Africans are aggressive and “savage”.	Kenya, British Empire	Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Birth of a Dream Weaver I (2016), p.67
medicine man/men medicine-man medicine-men	Used to describe traditional or spiritual healers among some Indigenous people. The figure of the ‘Medicine Man’ has often been represented in popular media in sensational and eroticising terms. Such representations have denied the complexity of the knowledge associated with healing, as well as the important role traditional or spiritual healers played in many societies.		Tropenmuseum – Words Matter
mestizo meztizo castizo mestico (Portuguese) mameluco/s mameluke caboclo caboco cariboca curiboca	The Spanish term “meztizo” term has been used in Spain, Spanish America, and the Phillipines to mean a person of mixed European and Indigenous American heritage, regardless of a person’s place of birth. The term was used as a racial category for mixed race castas during the Spanish Empire. The Portuguese term “mestiço” was originally used in Brazil to refer to the first generation of people of mixed European and Indigenous American heritage, also known as “mamelucos” (this term was later replaced with “caboclo”).		Wikipedia – Mestizo Wikipedia – Mestiço Wikipedia - Mameluco
Mogul Empire (LCSH)	Mughal Empire	India	Cataloging Lab - Problem LCSH https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mughal_Empire
Mohammedan/s Mohameddan/s Muhameddan/s Mussalman	A term historically used to reference someone who worships of the Prophet Muhammad. Many Muslims object to it because Islam teaches the worship of God alone.  Use “Muslim” or “Islamic”		Tropenmuseum – Words Matter
Mongoloid/s Mongolian race	An outdated and derogatory term used to describe a so-called racial type (otherwise known as the “Mongolian race”) and a person with the genetic condition Down syndrome. The Mongol people are an ethnic group, some of whom live as minorities in China and Russia.	Mongolia, disability history, history of science	Tropenmuseum – Words Matter National Center on Disability and Journalism, Arizona State University - Disability Language Style Guide Lonely Planet – Mongol or Mongolian
Moor/s Maure (French)	A controversial term that has been used to describe different groups of people. The term was first used by Christian Europeans to describe the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily, and Malta during the early modern period. The Moors were initially the indigenous Maghrebine Berbers but the name was later applied to Arabs and Arabised Italians and Muslim Europeans. In the colonial era, the Portuguese introduced the names “Ceylon Moors” and “Indian Moors” in South Asia and Sri Lanka, and the Bengali Muslims were also called Moors. As a historical term, it has not always been derogative. It has, however, been used in Europe since antiquity to describe Black people from Africa (deriving from the Ancient Greek “black, blackened, or charred”). The term was also used in a derogatory sense to describe Muslims in general.		Tropenmuseum – Words Matter
mulatto/s mulato/s/ mullatoes	Since the 17th century, this term has referred to the first-generation progeny of a non-white person and a white person. The term derives from the Latin ‘mulus’ (‘mule’), the hybrid offspring of a horse and a donkey. ‘Mulattos’ were deemed to represent the ‘horrors’ of miscegenation but were also conceived to be more intelligent than Black people because of their ‘white blood’.	Latin America	PCUSA Terminology Crosswalk Tropenmuseum – Words Matter
mumbo jumbo	First used in the 1700s in West Africa by travel writer Francis Moore to describe a masked male dancer who takes part in religious ceremonies. In the West, the term has come to mean a confusing or meaningless phrase, sometimes used to mock aspects of non-European cultures.		Wikipedia – Mumbo Jumbo (phrase)
munt/s	Derogatory slang term used by white people in colonial Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), South Africa, and Zambia, toward Black people, especially Black men. Derives from muntu, the singular of Bantu.	South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia,	Tropenmuseum – Words Matter
native/s the native/s	Like “indigenous”, the term “native” can be used in a neutral sense to describe people (or flora/fauna) born to a particular place. The term, however, is homogenising and reinforces colonial hierarchies whilst also problematically implying an exclusionary racial and ethnic right to a place by a specific group. In Europe today, the term is increasingly used in xenophobic politics. The term is, however, used by some (e.g. Native Americans) in their political claims for sovereignty.		Tropenmuseum – Words Matter
Near East
nip/s nippon	Derogatory term for Japanese people. From “Nippo” (the Japanese name for Japan) used in World War II by British, American, and Australian armed forces.	USA, Australia, UK, Japan, WWII, 1940s-	Owl apps – List of ethnic slurs by ethnicity
Oriental/s	Oriental derives from the Latin word for “east”. Historically, the term came to be used in Europe to describe people or things from South Asia, East Asia, and the so-called “Middle East”, and was even sometimes used in lieu of “Semite”. The term is criticised for being geographically Eurocentric, and especially for its romanticising and stereotypical image of South Asian, East Asian, and Middle Eastern people as mysterious, “exotic” and foreign.		Tropenmuseum – Words Matter Owl apps – List of ethnic slurs by ethnicity
Oriental literature (LCSH)	Asian literature? (Specifically in the Library of Congress Subject Heading context)		Cataloging Lab - Problem LCSH
Orientalist/s	“Orientalist” is an outdated colonialist term for scholars who took interest in any aspect of East Asian, South Asia, or Middle Eastern history, languages, and cultures. The term is homogenising and non-specific.
pardo (masculine) parda (feminine)	A term used in the former Portuguese and Spanish colonies in the Americas to refer to the triracial descendants of Europeans, Amerindians, and West Africans.	Portuguese Empire, Spanish Empire, mixed race history	Wikipedia - Pardo
peranakan	Term for mixed-race, creole population born of mobile trading men from China, Arabia, and India, and local women.	Malaysia, Southeast Asia	Ho, Engseng.“Inter-Asian Concepts for Mobile Societies,” The Journal of Asian Studies 76 (2017): 907-928, p.916.
planter/s plantation	Distinguish between tea planters (India) and slave plantation owners (Caribbean, Americas, etc.) The term “planters” is euphemistic when used to describe enslavers.
phrenology phrenological phrenologist/s	Phrenology, considered a pseudoscience today, refers to the practice of measuring skull size and shape to determine a person’s character traits and behavioural patterns. The practice was deeply rooted in racial pseudoscientific theories. These may appear in the papers of George Combe (1788-1858) and his brother Andrew Combe, who founded the Edinburgh Phrenological Society at 25 Chambers Street in 1920. As phrenology became increasingly racialised, Edinburgh’s students used it to both promote and refute racist theories. For example, Edinburgh graduate John William Jackson wrote: “contemplated through the medium of Comparative Anatomy, a Negro is but the embryonic, and a Mongol the infantile form of the Caucasian or perfect man.”		Wikipedia – Edinburgh Phrenological Society Brittanica - Phrenology Andrew Bank – ‘Of “Native Skulls” and “Noble Caucasians”: Phrenology in Colonial South Africa’ Curious Edinburgh - Racism
pirate piracy	The term “pirate” should not be taken at face value. A contested term, sometimes used to “Other” and criminalise Indigenous sea-farers or the lower-class. The nuances of the term have been debated by jurists throughout history, and its meanings differ geographically.	1500-, world	Anderson, J.L.  “Piracy and World History:  An Economic Perspective on Maritime Predation.”  Journal of World History 6 (1995), 175-199 Rediker, Markus. “The Pirate and the Gallows: An Atlantic Theater of Terror and Resistance” Maritime Histories, Littoral Cultures, and Transoceanic Exchanges, edited by Jerry H. Bentley. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2007.
Planted a colony	Avoid this euphemism
Politionele actie	Refers to a large-scale military operations carried out by the Dutch army to prevent Indonesian Independence 1945-1949. ‘Politionele actie’ was a euphemistic name that was misleadingly used to mask the true nature of the war and reduced the victims of this violence to ‘rebels’. ‘Agresi Militer Belanda I & II’ are used in Indonesia. In Netherlands, ‘First and Second Dutch-Indonesian Wars’ has also been suggested.	Dutch Empire	Tropenmuseum – Words Matter
primitive/s primitiveness primitivity prehistoric pre-historic prehistorical primordial ancient proto- pre-modern backward/s traditional tribal savage barbarian underdeveloped less developed Third World	Implies that non-Western societies do not belong to modernity. In colonial thought, non-Western cultures were imagined as part of the distant past. In the 19th century, ideas about non-white people being less biologically “evolved” came to the fore. In the mid-20th century, this hierarchy was re-imagined through the neo-colonial discourse of “underdevelopment”.		Tropenmuseum – Words Matter
Primitive art (LCSH)			Cataloging Lab - Problem LCSH
pygmy/s pygmies pigmy/ies	Pygmy’ is a term used in anthropology to describe diverse peoples, especially from (Equatorial) Africa and Asia, where the adult males are regarded as of unusually short stature. Beyond the term’s use to refer to the physical features of diverse ethnic groups, the term is also used negatively as an insult to critique someone’s intellectual capacities. Some indigenous peoples, for example in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, have reclaimed the term as neutral and therefore nonproblematic. Only use pygmy if the people self-identify in this way. Specific ethnic/linguistic/national/religious identity is preferred.		Tropenmuseum – Words Matter
race/s racial scientist/s race science/s racism/s racist/s	In racial thinking the colour of one’s skin is regarded as a sign of incommensurable difference between groups, including a hierarchy in aptitude, abilities, even behaviour and development. According to 18th- and 19th-century racial (pseudo) sciences, humans were divided into different groups, arranged hierarchically. These typologies reinforced colonial ideologies of difference, with the white European or “Caucasian” at the top of the racial hierarchy. Race is not a fixed biological category, but a socially constructed way of classifying people according to their phenotypical features and ancestry. While race is not a biological fact, it has social consequences, for example in discrimination, prejudice and inequality. Racism, therefore, should be understood as a form of prejudice and discrimination based on the presumed superiority of one group over another. Today, we do not speak of ‘race’ as a fact, but recognise different ethnicities, which are social, cultural, linguistic, and religious.		Tropenmuseum – Words Matter University of Cambridge – Racial Slurs and Racially Offensive Language Michael Omi and Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, third edition (New York and London: Routledge, 2015), 13.
Race riots 1919		UK, England
sambo/s samboe/s zambo/s (Spanish)	"Sambo" (also spelled "Samboe") derives from the Spanish racial classification "Zambo" or "Sambu", which was used in colonial South America to distinguish people of mixed Black and Indigenous ancestry, specifically those with one "mulatto" parent. In the English language, "Sambo" was most commonly used to denigrate people with African heritage, particularly African Americans, although it was also used in a derogatory way towards other non-white people, such as mixed-race people, Native Americans, or South Asians. In her children's book the Little Black Sambo, the term is used by Helen Bannerman to describe an Indian (South Asian) boy. Yet, the book gained popularity in the USA where subsequent editions were illustrated with racist “picaninny” caricatures of an African American child, thus highlighting the term's multiple racialised meanings.	Latin America, USA, 1700s-	Shirley Ann Tate – Decolonising Sambo
savage/s uncivilised uncivilized wild	Dehumanising terms for non-Europeans		PCUSA Terminology Crosswalk
servant/s page/s footman/men Baboo babu	Often found in the descriptions of paintings and photographs. These interrelated terms describe a person employed in another’s household to do diverse domestic duties such as cooking and cleaning, or to be someone’s attendant. The multiple and complex relations that servants may have with their masters makes any too easy judgement of the role of the servant or conditions under which they lived.		Tropenmuseum – Words Matter
sidi/s siddi/s seedee sidhi	The term “Sidi” (variously spelt) was used to label enslaved Africans and African sailors working in Indian Ocean ports and aboard ships. Note that the term “Sidi” is not preferred by all people of African heritage living in South Asia today. Kaffir is more commonly used in South India and Sri Lanka, and Habshi is more commonly used in Pakistan.	South Asia, Africa
slave/s
spade	Derogatory term for Black people. First recorded in 1928. Derives from the playing cards suit.		Owl apps – List of ethnic slurs by ethnicity
sub-Saharan Africa	The term “Sub-Saharan Africa” is disputed on the grounds that the prefix “sub-” implies “lesser”. The phrasing is not used to refer to other parts of the world.
Swastika	An ancient symbol used in South Asian religions Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The symbol was appropriated by the Nazi party and by neo-Nazis.	WWII, South Asia, Holocaust
Third World developing nations less developed LEDC low-income countries	Reinforces a division of the world into Western superiority and non-Western inferiority. The discourse of “development” was used to justify neo-colonial ventures after WWII, from the 1960s.		Tropenmuseum – Words Matter
traditional tradition/s	The term “traditional” can take on a negative connotation when used in opposition to other terms such as “modernity” and “progress”, especially when used to describe non-European populations. In some cases, it can be replaced by “historic”.		Tropenmuseum – Words Matter
tribe/s tribal tribesperson tribesman/men tribewoman/men	Use with caution. The term has come to connote “primitive”, “simple”, and even “wild”, and is predominantly associated with non-European peoples and cultures. In many contexts,, “tribes” were a colonial construct. The complexity of the term emerges, however, because some cultural groups have come to embrace the term as a legal and group identity—for example Native North American Tribal Councils. “Tribe” also appears in the Qur’an and has therefore always been an accepted term in the Arab world. Even then, this term is still contested for its negative connotations. The term has very infrequently been used to describe ethnic groups in Europe.		Tropenmuseum – Words Matter P. Gabrielle Foreman et al. Writing about “Slavery”? This might help
Western West the West	The West is an ideological, historical, economic and geographical concept, the meaning of which has shifted over time. The term represents both a mental and physical division of the world that categorises and contrasts people, cultures, religions and regions, placing them in a hierarchy.		Tropenmuseum – Words Matter
West Indian/s
white/s	As an ideological category formed and consolidated in European racial (pseudo)sciences, “white” was historically understood to connote progress, sophistication, and civilisation. Since the latter part of the 20th century there has been sustained critique of the social construction of “whiteness” as norm, arguing that it is an identity category that emerged to justify or reinforce discrimination against non-white people. Avoid capitalisation. The capitslisation of “White” is associated with white supremacist movements.		Tropenmuseum – Words Matter
Zwarte Piet	Dutch “Black Pete” blackface Christmas character		Becky Little – National Geographic