Wi-Fi

en-verb

Wi-Fi (third-person singular simple present Wi-Fis, present participle Wi-Fi-ing, simple past and past participle Wi-Fied)

Wi-Fis (present singular third-person)
Wi-Fi-ing (participle present)
Wi-Fied (participle past)
Wi-Fied (past)

What type of electronics will be immune from being Wi-Fied?

2003 September 15, Scott Bradner, “So why isn't it wireless?,”, in Network World, volume 20, number 37:

The biggest market may be Wi-Fi-ing people's homes.

To Wi-Fi or Not to Wi-Fi?

2004, Jon Edney, William A. Arbaugh, William Arbaugh, Real 802.11 Security: Wi-Fi Protected Access and 802.11i, page XVI:

There was no point in being off the grid if the vehicle you drove was Wi-Fied to it with every turn of the wheels.

2017, Dean Koontz, The Silent Corner, page 10:

The hotel manager even claims he's seen Red Sox problem child Manny Ramirez Wi-Fi-ing in the lobby on his Palm.

2003, Newsweek - Volume 142, Issues 18-25, page 76:

Perhaps someone sees you typing in confidential information while you are "Wi-Fi-ing" in a hotel lobby or a crowded airport waiting area.

2004, Harold Davis, Absolute Beginner's Guide to Wi-Fi Wireless Networking, page 237:

If Addison and Steele were alive and holding court at Starbucks, they'd be Wi-Fi-ing into a joint blog.

2004, Vanity Fair - Issue 524, page 146:


gook

First attested in the 1890s in reference to Filipinos (in particular, it is defined in an 1893 citation in Slang and Its Analogues as referring to prostitutes who followed army camps; it is defined similarly in a 1914 work). The word was used of Nicaraguans during the US military occupation there in the 1910s, and Haitians during the US invasion there, when Herbert Seligman noted in 1920 that "The Haitians … are nicknamed 'Gooks'".
Other early uses in the 1920 and 30s still refer to people from the Philippines (a 1921 work refers to the Philippines as "Gook Land"), and the term seems to be connected to goo-goo (“a Philippine person”), for which a variety of etymologies have been proposed; see that entry for more. (A later folk etymology suggests that during the Korean War, North Korean soldiers would shout Korean 美國 (Miguk, “America”) at Americans, who interpreted it as "me gook", as if identifying themselves as "gooks"; this ignores the many earlier examples of the word outside Korea.) Gook was used of Pacific Islanders by World War II, and Koreans and Vietnamese people by the time of the 1950s and 60s US military interventions there, which cemented the shift to meaning "Asian".

A few days later he had a 'damned good party' at NORMASH, drinking brandy, and he then 'beat up a Gook [Korean] village.' This resulted in an 'awful hangover all day', […] Later, he walked back to his unit, alone at three o'clock in the morning, having 'swiped a Gook torch.'

2002, Colin Baker, Wild Goose: The Life and Death of Hugh Van Oppen, pages 59–60:

(slang, vulgar, derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) A person of (South) East Asian descent; originally a native of the Philippines, but now especially:

(US, derogatory) A Korean person (especially during the Korean War).

Of course, I've got so many confirmed kills I lost count. Nobody believes me because the gooks drag off their dead.

1979, Gustav Hasford, The Short-Timers, New York: Bantam Books, published 1980, →ISBN, page 57:

(US, derogatory) A Vietnamese insurgent in the Vietnam War, particularly a member of the Vietcong.


Jim Crow

/ˌdʒɪm ˈkɹoʊ/

From the minstrel show song Jump Jim Crow, written in 1828 by Thomas D. Rice, the originator of blackface performance.

(obsolete, derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) A Black man.


babe

From Middle English babe, a variant of earlier baban, perhaps from Old English *baba (“boy, child”), from Proto-West Germanic *babō, from Proto-Germanic *babô, reduplicated variant of *ba-, *bō- (“father, brother, close male relation”).
cognates and related terms
Related to Old Frisian bobba (“child”) (whence North Frisian babbe, babb, babe (“child”)), Old High German Babo (a male forename), see boy. Otherwise, origin obscure. Compare mama, dada, papa. Welsh baban (“baby”), believed by Skeat to be a mutation of maban, a diminutive of mab (“son”), is probably rather a borrowing from English. Cognate also with English bub.

out of the mouths of babes and sucklings

Hey, babe, how's about you and me getting together?

But, Babe, you don't have to meet 'em if you don't want to.

1916 March 11, Charles E. Van Loan, “His Folks”, in Saturday Evening Post:

(endearing) Darling (term of endearment).


kike

Thought to be from Yiddish קײַקל (kaykl, “circle”). In the early 20th century, non-English-speaking Jews that immigrated to the United States would sign papers with a circle as opposed to a more common X. The latter symbol was associated by these Jews with the Christian cross, a symbol that represented to them millennia of persecution. This is the dominant etymological theory, but there are others, in particular a contraction from the documented phrase ‘Ikey-Kikey’, an American-origin reduplication of Ikey, British-English pejorative for Jews after the prevalence of the name Isaac.

"Now you quit kidding me! What's the nice little name?" "Oh, it ain't so darn nice. I guess it's kind of kike. But my folks ain't kikes. My papa's papa was a nobleman in Poland, and there was a gentleman in here one day, he was kind of a count or something--"

(US, offensive, ethnic slur, religious slur) A Jew.


Cina

Through Malay Cina, from a phonetic transcription of Sanskrit चीन (Cīna), itself likely deriving from Old Chinese 秦 (*zin, “State of Qin, Qin dynasty”). Compare Latin Sinae, Ancient Greek Θῖνα (Thîna), Arabic اَلصِّين (aṣ-ṣīn), Chinese 支那 (Zhīnà), Chinese 震旦 (Zhèndàn), Japanese 支那 (shina) and English China.

cog

Arabic اَلصِّين (aṣ-ṣīn)

(derogatory, ethnic slur) Chink, Chinaman (Chinese person)


auntie

Tok Pisin: anti

Torres Strait Creole: anti

→ Burmese: အန်တီ (anti)

⇒ Chinese: 安娣 (āndī)

→ Pennsylvania German: Aendi

→ Scottish Gaelic: antaidh

→ Yoruba: àǹtí


ani

Inherited from Old Polish ani. By surface analysis, univerbation of a + ni.

surf

Nec, et Neque - Ani tez.

1588, Ambrogio Calepino, Dictionarium decem linguarum, page 692a:

Ne - Nie, ani.

1588, Ambrogio Calepino, Dictionarium decem linguarum, page 691b:

(Middle Polish) not also; Further details are uncertain.

Jakom ya slachathnegonego pawla segzowa nyeothbyla gwalthem oth kmyecza yego sbyeglego zvrzadem zyemskyem a nym gwalthv szwolala (a ny) y dalyey wedluk posw.

(Middle Polish) The meaning of this term is uncertain.


madame

Borrowed from French madame, from Old French ma dame (“my lady”). Doublet of madam and Madonna.


madame

English: madam; ma'am

Scots: madam

madam (polite term of address or (less often) title for a noble lady)


pasty

en-adj

pasty (comparative pastier, superlative pastiest)

pastier (comparative)
pastiest (superlative)

He smoothed his tailored suit and red tie. "Boy, does it look like I ain't rich now? My pockets are already full of paper! Why the fuck would I want to risk doing business with some pasty cracker? For all I know, you a cop!"

2008, John Lacombe, Winter Games, page 184:

“So, snow bunny, what should black women do? How do we...oh, how do I say this... cure our brothas of this widespread, pasty disease?” I didn't reply. Again, I tried to step away. Again, she grabbed my arm.

2010, James W. Lewis, Sellout, page 107:

(slang, offensive, derogatory, ethnic slur) Whiteskinned.


gib

Only gib me some few shingles an’ a flo’, an’ dar yer hev jes ez good a church ez de ’postles ebber hed ter preach in.

1880, Albion W. Tourgee, “Red Wing”, in Bricks Without Straw, New York, N.Y.: Fords, Howard, & Hulbert; London: Sampson Low & Co.; Montreal, Que.: Dawson Bros., page 87:

I has gib you licker an’ I has gib you music, an’ wife, dar, is cookin’ supper fur you, an’ it ain’ no mo’ den reason dat I’d wanter know whut we gwine git fur it.[…]“Yo’ supper is done an’ ef you’ll jest gib me room I’ll fix de table,” the woman remarked, taking the bread off the griddle.

1896, Opie Read, chapter VIII, in The Jucklins, Chicago, Ill.: Laird & Lee, pages 105 and 107:

De kindest heartedest little boy in de worl’ would forget to gib his cat its dinner if he had a new toy to play wid, or a new suit o’ party dress to put on to show his poppy when he come home.

1902, John Kendrick Bangs, Bikey the Skicycle & Other Tales of Jimmieboy, New York, N.Y.: Riggs Publishing Company, page 181:

Please, Mars’ Gineral, do gib me dime fer snack.

1938, Hervey Allen, Action at Aquila, New York, N.Y.: Farrar & Rinehart, page 98:

Don’t your mommy gib you bacoln?

1988, Lynda Barry, The Good Times Are Killing Me, published 2020, →ISBN:

“My daddy doesn’t gib me guns, ’cause he doesn’t like dem. But Pop will gib me one when I gets ten.”

2002 July, Patricia Sprinkle, Who Invited the Dead Man?, Signet, →ISBN:

“Maybe you could jus’ gib me one, then,” she suggested sweetly.

2007, Victoria Pade, A Family for the Holidays, Silhouette Books, →ISBN, page 12:

Hooman you is nice, / You gib me bath so I no hab lice.

2021 March, Srashti Behure, Unconditional: Pets Over Peeps, Spectrum of Thoughts (an affiliate of FanatiXx), →ISBN:

“Gib us our toy bacc!” reads the caption accompanying this dog video [by @lifewithkleekai].

2022 February 8, Sohini Sengupta, “Dogs react to human freezing their favourite toys. Watch hilarious video”, in Hindustan Times:

“I be model for fotos, now you gib treats”

2022 February 10, Steve Rouge, “The Cutest Puppies of the Day”, in Medium:

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling


arse

Sranan Tongo: lasi

From Middle English ars, ers, from Old English ærs, ears, from Proto-West Germanic *ars, from Proto-Germanic *arsaz (compare Dutch aars and German Arsch), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃érsos (“backside, buttocks”) (according to Julius Pokorny and Carl Darling Buck).

inh

could eat the arse out of a low flying duck

think the sun shines out of someone's arse

“You're an arse,” Ellen said. ¶ “Please? You must like something about me …?” ¶ “I do. You're an arse. I just told you that. I feel comfy with you, because you're such an arse.”

2007, Martin Harrison, The Judgement of Paris, page 282:

He looked at me, was just about to call me an arse, when I told him, “You throw it too hard. Try and think of the javelin hitting the target before you throw it. Let it all go through your mind first, see it, feel it, then throw it.” ¶ “Good advice, you arse,” he said and tried again.

2007, L. A. Wilson, The Silurian: Book One: The Fox and the Bear, page 103:

Felnigg. What a suppurating arse. Look at him. Arse.

2011, Joe Abercrombie, The Heroes, unnumbered page:

(chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, derogatory, slang) A stupid, pompous, arrogant, mean or despicable person.

(vulgar, slang, uncountable) Used in similes to express something bad or unpleasant.


arse

(euphemistic)

(Commonwealth) An expression of frustration.


bugger

From Middle English bougre (“heretic”), from Old French bougre, from Medieval Latin Bulgarus (“Bulgar”), from Old Church Slavonic блъгаринъ (blŭgarinŭ, “Bulgarian”), used in designation of heretics (especially the Bogomils, who arose around the 10th century AD in the First Bulgarian Empire), to whom various sexual practices such as anal sex were ascribed. Doublet of Bulgar.

der

What is that little bugger up to now?

(slang, UK, US) A whippersnapper, a tyke.


albo

(US, offensive, ethnic slur) An Albanian.


ma'am

The noun is a contraction of madam, and represents a regional pronunciation of that word in the United Kingdom. The verb is derived from the noun.

– Sergeant, have the platoon in formation and ready for inspection at 0800.

– Aye aye, ma'am.

A respectful term of address to a woman of higher rank or position.


negress

From French négresse, from nègre. Equivalent to Negro + -ess.

Directly they were trotted off in their little pea-green and gilt carriage, guardian negress and all, I went into the shop, about which I had all this time been loafingly prowling, and called, clapping my hands, for some violet sherbet, […]

1860, Walter Thornbury, Turkish Life and Character, volume 1, page 137:

1995, A. J. Verdelle, The Good Negress (book title)

(dated, literary, now offensive and an ethnic slur) A black female.


madder

en-verb

madder (third-person singular simple present madders, present participle maddering, simple past and past participle maddered)

madders (present singular third-person)
maddering (participle present)
maddered (participle past)
maddered (past)


madam

From Middle English madame, from Old French madame, from ma (“my”) + dame (“lady”), from post-classical Latin mea domina. Doublet of Madonna.

Mrs Grey wondered if the outfit she was trying on made her look fat. The sales assistant just said, “It suits you, madam”.

Later, Mrs Grey was sitting in her favourite tea shop. “Would madam like the usual cream cakes and patisserie with her tea?” the waitress asked.

“Nothing, madam, but a tumbler of wine with a little water—thank you, madam. Mesdames, great events have occurred since I left you.”

1857, Charles Reade, White Lies. A Story., volume I, London: Trübner & Co., […], page 276:

I leaned on the hoe, in classic pose, and watched the cowbird try to bust his buttons in that agonizing split whistle which is his serenade to the madam. Perhaps I should say to the mesdames, for this fellow is the Don Juan of the feathered world, with no moral standards and a distinct aversion to anything that resembles domestic ties.

1951 April, John H. Day, “The Breath of April”, in Pennsylvania Game News, volume XXII, number 1, Pennsylvania Game Commission, page 27, column 1:

“[…] This size, madam!” Certainly, the mesdames would not have been interested.

After two years, Madam X was busy enough to take on a partner: Madam Z, aged twenty. Both regularly scouted new marks and told Stead that ‘nurse girls’ (nannies) were the best: ‘there are any number in [the parks] every morning and all are virgins’. Selling maidenhoods was their speciality. ‘Our gentlemen want maids,’ they said, ‘not damaged articles.’ ‘Come,’ he said to the mesdames, ‘what do you say to delivering me five [girls] on Saturday next? . . . Could you deliver me a parcel of maids, for me to distribute among my friends?’ Within a fortnight, the Mesdames had supplied Stead with seven girls between the ages of fourteen and eighteen.

2012, Bridget O’Donnell, Inspector Minahan Makes a Stand: The Missing Girls of England, Picador, →ISBN:

A polite form of address for a woman or lady.

ခင်ဗျာ

used by males to address both males and females

ရှင်

used by females to address both males and females


dad

From Early Modern English dadd, dadde (circa 1500), undoubtedly older, from unrecorded Middle English *dadde, of uncertain ultimate origin.
* Perhaps of Celtic origin, compare Welsh and Breton tad (from Proto-Brythonic *tad), Old Irish data; and possibly related to Russian дя́дя (djádja, “uncle”) and/or Russian де́душка (déduška, “grandfather”), all imitative. In Welsh, when subject to soft mutation (which occurs in vocative contexts, among others), tad becomes dad.
* Perhaps imitative of a child's first uttered syllables da, da.
* Possibly from a metathetic variation of unrecorded Old English *ætta, *atta (“father”), from Proto-West Germanic *attō, from Proto-Germanic *attô ("father, forefather"; whence also North Frisian ate, aatj, taatje, tääte (“father; dad”), Middle High German tate (“father, dad”) (whence German Tate (“dad”), Bavarian tatte (“dad”), Cimbrian tatta (“dad”)), Icelandic táta (“dad”)), from Proto-Indo-European *átta (“father”), whence Sanskrit तत (tata, “father”).

onomatopoeic

imitative

gloss

(slang) Used to address an older adult male


stoopid

en-adj

stoopid (comparative stoopider or more stoopid, superlative stoopidest or most stoopid)

stoopider (comparative)
more stoopid (comparative)
stoopidest (superlative)
most stoopid (superlative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-stoopid.wav

Perhaps imitative of the American pronunciation of stupid, or implying the referent would spell the word that way.

Did you read what he wrote? How stoopid was that?

(humorous) Eye dialect spelling of stupid, used as an emphatic form of the word.


音楽

Attested in the 沖縄語典 (Okinawa Goten, “Okinawan Dictionary”) as うんがく. Borrowed from Japanese 音楽 (ongaku).
Not used in actual Okinawan.


scotch

From 3M's Scotch tape. Genericized trademark.


dude

American Speech
James Caldwall
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Wellcome Library
dude

Uncertain, though likely a clipping of doodle (“fool, simpleton, mindless person”), perhaps with reference to the fashionable “Yankee Doodle dandy” in the 18th-century lyrics of the song “Yankee Doodle”; the word is first attested in 1883 as a New York City slang term of contempt for a “fastidious man, fop”. If so, then related to German Low German Dudeldop, Dudendop (“fool, dunce”), Saterland Frisian Duddigegen (“idiot”).
It has also been suggested that the word is derived from dudes (“old rags”; compare duds) and dudesman (“scarecrow”), or possibly related to dawdle; It has also been suggested the word derives from the Irish dúid.
The common claim that the term derives from (or is) a word for a camel's foreskin (or some other vulgar thing, like a hair on a cow, horse, donkey, or elephant's bottom) is false.

clipping

Dude! You finally called!

And, feckin' A, you ain't never gonna guess this one—dude! […] Thinking this is a little worse than me watching porn. Dude.

2011, Karen Marie Moning, Shadowfever: A Novel (The Fever Series; 5), New York, N.Y.: Delacorte Press, →ISBN:

(slang) A term of address, usually for a man, conveying awe, excitement, surprise, annoyance, etc.


doona

Originally a product name, derived from Danish dyne /dyːnə/. Trademark owned by the Tontine Group.

He had put the doona on sideways. My feet were sticking out.

1983, Helen Garner, Yellow Notebook: Diaries Volume I, Text Publishing, published 2022, page 66:

Lena pulled the doona over her head.

Doonas can be made of goose feathers, wool or synthetics. Wash them twice a year or even more if you sweat a lot. You can tell it′s time for a wash when the fibres are packed down and lumpy, or the doona smells.

2011, Shannon Lush, Jennifer Fleming, Spotless: Room-by-Room Solutions to Domestic Disasters, unnumbered page:

(Australia) A padded blanket used as a cover in bed; a duvet.


doona

“I doona ken how he found us,” he muttered darkly.

2005, Karen Marie Moning, Spell of the Highlander, page 122:

“Are you talking to those cats again? Do you really think they listen? Do you really think they understand?”
“I doona know, Grandma. And I doona care.”

2005, Harold Cheney, Jack of Tabbyshire: Jack of Tabbyshire and Other Grandfather Tales, page 9:

“Oh, and doona go near the ruins or the castle when I leave,” he said, picking up the book and heading for the door.

2007, Margo Maguire, A Warrior′s Taking, page 286:


office

Tok Pisin: opis

→ Belarusian: о́фіс (ófis)

→ Bulgarian: о́фис (ófis)

→ Cebuano: opis

→ Chichewa: ofesi

→ Central Dusun: upis

→ Hindi: ऑफ़िस (ŏfis)

→ Iban: opis

→ Japanese: オフィス

→ Marshallese: wōpij

→ Malay: opis

→ Russian: о́фис (ófis)

→ Scottish Gaelic: oifis

→ Swahili: afisi

→ Tausug: upis

→ Ukrainian: о́фіс (ófis)

Microsoft Office
office (disambiguation)

From Middle English office, from Old French office, from Latin officium (“personal, official, or moral duty; official position; function; ceremony, esp. last rites”), contracted from opificium (“construction: the act of building or the thing built”), from opifex (“doer of work, craftsman”) + -ium (“-y”, forming actions), from op- (“work”) + -i- (connective) + -fex (combining form of faciō (“to do, to make”)).
The use in reference to office software is a genericization of various proprietary program suites, such as Microsoft Office.

zyrë

room(s) or building used for non-manual work

Giving the office—is when you suffer any person, who may stand behind your chair, to look over your hand.

1803, Sporting Magazine, number 21, page 327:

1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Where Silas Linden Comes into His Own”, in The Land of Mist, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, published 1926, →OCLC, [https://archive.org/details/landofmist0000doyl/page/" […] What is there for me in it?" "Not a shilling." "What? Wasn't it I that gave the information? Where would you have been if I had not given you the office?"/mode/1up page " […] What is there for me in it?" "Not a shilling." "What? Wasn't it I that gave the information? Where would you have been if I had not given you the office?"]:

(figuratively, slang) Inside information.


poro

head

poro (genitive poro, partitive poro or porot)

poro (genitive)
poro (partitive)
porot (partitive)
poro (nominative singular)
porod (nominative plural)
poro (accusative nominative singular)
porod (accusative nominative plural)
poro (accusative genitive singular)
porod (accusative genitive plural)
poro (genitive singular)
porode (genitive plural)
poro (partitive singular)
porosid (partitive plural)
porro (illative singular)
porosse (illative singular)
porodesse (illative plural)
poros (inessive singular)
porodes (inessive plural)
porost (elative singular)
porodest (elative plural)
porole (allative singular)
porodele (allative plural)
porol (adessive singular)
porodel (adessive plural)
porolt (ablative singular)
porodelt (ablative plural)
poroks (singular translative)
porodeks (plural translative)
poroni (singular terminative)
porodeni (plural terminative)
porona (essive singular)
porodena (essive plural)
porota (abessive singular)
porodeta (abessive plural)
poroga (comitative singular)
porodega (comitative plural)
poro (nominative singular)
porod (nominative plural)
poro (accusative nominative singular)
porod (accusative nominative plural)
poro (accusative genitive singular)
porod (accusative genitive plural)
poro (genitive singular)
porode (genitive plural)
porot (partitive singular)
porosid (partitive plural)
porro (illative singular)
porosse (illative singular)
porodesse (illative plural)
poros (inessive singular)
porodes (inessive plural)
porost (elative singular)
porodest (elative plural)
porole (allative singular)
porodele (allative plural)
porol (adessive singular)
porodel (adessive plural)
porolt (ablative singular)
porodelt (ablative plural)
poroks (singular translative)
porodeks (plural translative)
poroni (singular terminative)
porodeni (plural terminative)
porona (essive singular)
porodena (essive plural)
porota (abessive singular)
porodeta (abessive plural)
poroga (comitative singular)
porodega (comitative plural)

Borrowed from Finnish poro by Estonian writer, folklorist, and translator August Annist in 1926.


mono

mono (nominative singular)
monot (nominative plural)
mono (accusative nominative singular)
monot (accusative nominative plural)
monon (accusative genitive singular)
monot (accusative genitive plural)
monon (genitive singular)
monojen (genitive plural)
monoa (partitive singular)
monoja (partitive plural)
monossa (inessive singular)
monoissa (inessive plural)
monosta (elative singular)
monoista (elative plural)
monoon (illative singular)
monoihin (illative plural)
monolla (adessive singular)
monoilla (adessive plural)
monolta (ablative singular)
monoilta (ablative plural)
monolle (allative singular)
monoille (allative plural)
monona (essive singular)
monoina (essive plural)
monoksi (singular translative)
monoiksi (plural translative)
monotta (abessive singular)
monoitta (abessive plural)
monoin (instructive plural)
See the possessive forms below. (comitative)
mononi (nominative singular)
mononi (nominative plural)
mononi (accusative nominative singular)
mononi (accusative nominative plural)
mononi (accusative genitive singular)
mononi (accusative genitive plural)
mononi (genitive singular)
monojeni (genitive plural)
monoani (partitive singular)
monojani (partitive plural)
monossani (inessive singular)
monoissani (inessive plural)
monostani (elative singular)
monoistani (elative plural)
monooni (illative singular)
monoihini (illative plural)
monollani (adessive singular)
monoillani (adessive plural)
monoltani (ablative singular)
monoiltani (ablative plural)
monolleni (allative singular)
monoilleni (allative plural)
mononani (essive singular)
monoinani (essive plural)
monokseni (singular translative)
monoikseni (plural translative)
monottani (abessive singular)
monoittani (abessive plural)
monoineni (comitative plural)
monosi (nominative singular)
monosi (nominative plural)
monosi (accusative nominative singular)
monosi (accusative nominative plural)
monosi (accusative genitive singular)
monosi (accusative genitive plural)
monosi (genitive singular)
monojesi (genitive plural)
monoasi (partitive singular)
monojasi (partitive plural)
monossasi (inessive singular)
monoissasi (inessive plural)
monostasi (elative singular)
monoistasi (elative plural)
monoosi (illative singular)
monoihisi (illative plural)
monollasi (adessive singular)
monoillasi (adessive plural)
monoltasi (ablative singular)
monoiltasi (ablative plural)
monollesi (allative singular)
monoillesi (allative plural)
mononasi (essive singular)
monoinasi (essive plural)
monoksesi (singular translative)
monoiksesi (plural translative)
monottasi (abessive singular)
monoittasi (abessive plural)
monoinesi (comitative plural)
monomme (nominative singular)
monomme (nominative plural)
monomme (accusative nominative singular)
monomme (accusative nominative plural)
monomme (accusative genitive singular)
monomme (accusative genitive plural)
monomme (genitive singular)
monojemme (genitive plural)
monoamme (partitive singular)
monojamme (partitive plural)
monossamme (inessive singular)
monoissamme (inessive plural)
monostamme (elative singular)
monoistamme (elative plural)
monoomme (illative singular)
monoihimme (illative plural)
monollamme (adessive singular)
monoillamme (adessive plural)
monoltamme (ablative singular)
monoiltamme (ablative plural)
monollemme (allative singular)
monoillemme (allative plural)
mononamme (essive singular)
monoinamme (essive plural)
monoksemme (singular translative)
monoiksemme (plural translative)
monottamme (abessive singular)
monoittamme (abessive plural)
monoinemme (comitative plural)
mononne (nominative singular)
mononne (nominative plural)
mononne (accusative nominative singular)
mononne (accusative nominative plural)
mononne (accusative genitive singular)
mononne (accusative genitive plural)
mononne (genitive singular)
monojenne (genitive plural)
monoanne (partitive singular)
monojanne (partitive plural)
monossanne (inessive singular)
monoissanne (inessive plural)
monostanne (elative singular)
monoistanne (elative plural)
monoonne (illative singular)
monoihinne (illative plural)
monollanne (adessive singular)
monoillanne (adessive plural)
monoltanne (ablative singular)
monoiltanne (ablative plural)
monollenne (allative singular)
monoillenne (allative plural)
mononanne (essive singular)
monoinanne (essive plural)
monoksenne (singular translative)
monoiksenne (plural translative)
monottanne (abessive singular)
monoittanne (abessive plural)
monoinenne (comitative plural)
mononsa (nominative singular)
mononsa (nominative plural)
mononsa (accusative nominative singular)
mononsa (accusative nominative plural)
mononsa (accusative genitive singular)
mononsa (accusative genitive plural)
mononsa (genitive singular)
monojensa (genitive plural)
monoaan (partitive singular)
monoansa (partitive singular)
monojaan (partitive plural)
monojansa (partitive plural)
monossaan (inessive singular)
monossansa (inessive singular)
monoissaan (inessive plural)
monoissansa (inessive plural)
monostaan (elative singular)
monostansa (elative singular)
monoistaan (elative plural)
monoistansa (elative plural)
monoonsa (illative singular)
monoihinsa (illative plural)
monollaan (adessive singular)
monollansa (adessive singular)
monoillaan (adessive plural)
monoillansa (adessive plural)
monoltaan (ablative singular)
monoltansa (ablative singular)
monoiltaan (ablative plural)
monoiltansa (ablative plural)
monolleen (allative singular)
monollensa (allative singular)
monoilleen (allative plural)
monoillensa (allative plural)
mononaan (essive singular)
mononansa (essive singular)
monoinaan (essive plural)
monoinansa (essive plural)
monokseen (singular translative)
monoksensa (singular translative)
monoikseen (plural translative)
monoiksensa (plural translative)
monottaan (abessive singular)
monottansa (abessive singular)
monoittaan (abessive plural)
monoittansa (abessive plural)
monoineen (comitative plural)
monoinensa (comitative plural)

From a trademark "Mono", registered in 1932 by Lahden Saapas- ja Lapikasteollisuus O.Y, since 1943 Mono Oy. The name, suggested by Arkki Laine, was chosen as result of a contest. The winner justified the name by explaining that it came from Ancient Greek μόνος (mónos, “unique”), which described the positioning of the skiing shoes of the firm on the market. Additionally, the founder of the firm was Jussi Mononen.

genericized trademark
genericized trademark


mac

(UK, US, Canada, Australia, slang, offensive, derogatory, ethnic slur) A person of Scottish descent, used in driving culture to denigrate someone for poor/slow/amateurish driving responses, a reference to the frugality of Scottish people.


Jap

Shortened from Japanese, attested as a noun since 1872, and adjectivally since 1878. Compare Nip (shortened from Nippon).

He petered out under Pitty's savage look: Do you speak Jap? Do you understand the world from inside those bastards' slanty-eyed little head-lopping poem-writing minds?

2007, Les A. Murray, Fredy Neptune, page 239:

He said it in Japanese, which surprised the boy and stunned Cullen.
“You speak Jap?” asked Cullen.
“Looks like it, doesn't it?”

(offensive, slang, ethnic slur) The Japanese language.


Jap

Among our Japs on board are two returning from Italy, where they have been with silk-worms' eggs, on cards, to sell. This has become a great speculation, and the Japs are going into it with zeal. The Japs almost always—always when they can—take cabin passages ; the Chinese seldom, or never.

1872, James Brooks, A Seven Months' Run, Up, Down, Around the World:

We had to kill 110,000 Japanese before we took Okinawa, and when the officers of the Japanese are killed- or defeated- they commit suicide. They cost us 12,000 men and they had to kill 110,000 Japs. And it's a terrible thing- don't know what you're gonna do with any crazy outfit like that except all you can do is to destroy them, and that's too bad.

1964, Harry S. Truman, 1:38 from the start, in MP2002-288 Former President Truman Discusses the Battle of Okinawa, Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives Identifier: 595162:

American officers have observed how Chinese troops stationed at American air bases have frequently refused to shoot at Japanese raiding planes. Asked by an American officer for the reason for this behavior, a Chinese officer at Lao-ho-k’ou air base in Hupeh answered (November 1944): “Well you see, if we shot down a Jap plane, the Japs would be angry and would take revenge and return and bomb the city and do a lot of damage.”

1968, Lyman P. Van Slyke, editor, The Chinese Communist Movement: A Report of the United States War Department, July 1945, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 90:

(derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur, US) A Japanese person.


Jap

A soldier might grab his rifle and batter his way to the heart of some Jap position. Back home they gave him all sorts of medals but his companions dismissed him as the poor bastard who finally went Asiatic.

1951, James Albert Michener, The Voice of Asia, page 6:

(derogatory, ethnic slur) Japanese; of or pertaining to Japan or its people.


Jap

(derogatory, ethnic slur, usually offensive, unofficial spelling) a Jap, a Japanese person


mummy

en-noun

mummy (countable and uncountable, plural mummies)

From Middle English mummie, from Anglo-Norman mumie, from Middle French momie, from Medieval Latin mumia, from Arabic مُومِيَاء (mūmiyāʔ), from Persian مومیا (mumyâ), from موم (mum, “wax”). Doublet of mumijo.

der

Arabic مُومِيَاء (mūmiyāʔ)

For many, mummies fascinate more than repel. Our horrific connotations lie not so much with the mummy itself, but in associated fears. The mummy serves, of course, as a general reminder of our own mortality and our fear of death, but this alone is not enough to make it a monster.

2007, S. T. Joshi, Icons of Horror and the Supernatural: An Encyclopedia of Our Worst Nightmares, volume 1, page 376:

(countable, by extension) A reanimated embalmed human corpse, as a stock character in horror films.


damn

en-verb

damn (third-person singular simple present damns, present participle damning, simple past and past participle damned)

damns (present singular third-person)
damning (participle present)
damned (participle past)
damned (past)
damn (infinitive)

From Middle English dampnen, from Old French damner, from Latin damnāre (“to condemn, inflict loss upon”), from damnum (“loss”).

der

I’m afraid that if I speak out on this, I’ll be damned as a troublemaker.

To put out of favor; to ruin; to label negatively.

осъ́ждам

to put out of favor; to ruin; to label negatively


lass

term-label

(archaic except UK, dialectal, informal or poetic)

From Middle English las, lasce, lasse (“female infant or child; young woman”), probably from Old Norse laskwa (“unmarried”, adjective).
cognates
* Scots lass, lassie

der

As fair art thou, my bonie laſs, / So deep in luve am I; / And I will luve thee ſtill, my Dear, / Till a' the ſeas gang dry.

[1794, Robert Burns, “A Red, Red Rose”, in Songs, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, volume IV, Kilmarnock, Scotland: […] James M‘Kie, published 1869, →OCLC, stanza 2, page 210:

"Hi, Juno, lass—hi, old girl; down, Daph, down," said Wardle, caressing the dogs.

1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “A Pleasant Day, with an Unpleasant Termination”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC, page 188:

(Scotland, familiar) A term of address for a woman, or a female animal.


abo

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles

Oxford University Press
w:Oxford University Press

(Australia, offensive, ethnic slur, slang) An Aboriginal person.


abo

Polish: abo

Silesian: abo

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *abo. First attested in the 14th century.

The meaning of this term is uncertain. Possibilities include:

Zaprawdę abo są poznali nasze książęta, iże to jest Krystus (numquid vere cognoverunt principes, quia hic est Christus Jo 7, 26)?

Middle of the 15th century, Rozmyślanie o żywocie Pana Jezusa, page 457:


idiota

Borrowed from Latin idiōta, from Ancient Greek ἰδιώτης (idiṓtēs, “layman”) from ἴδιος (ídios, “private”).

(derogatory) dick, jerk, schmuck, douchebag, asshole, ass, jackass, prick (i.e., a cocky or self-important individual without any foundation for it)


magic wand

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-magic wand.wav

Stealthily, she slid her nightstand drawer open, located the knee-high sock and pulled out her magic wand vibrator, ready to go with new batteries.

2017 October 17, Rachelle Ayala, Playing Catch, Rachelle Ayala:

The vibration wasn't as strong as that of her magic wand, but she slid the tip up and down the valley of her sex.

2020 July 21, Lila Dubois, Vienna Bargain, Farm Boy Press, →ISBN:

(genericized trademark) A long vibrator with a vibrating rubber head; the Hitachi Magic Wand or any similar sex toy.


faggot

From Middle English fagot, from Old French fagot (“bundle of sticks”), of uncertain origin. Unlikely from Old Occitan fagot or Italian fagotto, as these appear later than the Old French term. Compare also Italian fangotto and Spanish fajo (“bundle, wad”). Perhaps from a diminutive of Vulgar Latin *facus, from Latin fascis (“bundle of wood”). Compare also Old High German fazza (“bundle, load, burden”). Doublet of fagotto. See also: fag.
The senses relating to persons, though possibly originating as an extension of the sense "bundle of sticks", may have been reinforced by faygele, from Yiddish פֿייגעלע (feygele, “homosexual”, literally “little bird”), related to English fowl.

der

(US, Canada, derogatory, offensive) An annoying or inconsiderate person.

The Glasgow Herald thought that his attack on the faggots was too serious […]

1973, Ellen Reid Gold, Gladstone in Midlothian: A Rhetorical Analysis of His 1879 Campaign, page 114:

(UK, Ireland, historical, possibly now offensive) A faggot voter.


parch

pl-noun

parch m pers (female equivalent parchulka)

parchulka (feminine)
parch (nominative singular)
parchy (nominative plural)
parcha (genitive singular)
parchów (genitive plural)
parchowi (dative singular)
parchom (dative plural)
parcha (accusative singular)
parchów (accusative plural)
parchem (instrumental singular)
parchami (instrumental plural)
parchu (locative singular)
parchach (locative plural)
parchu (singular vocative)
parchy (plural vocative)

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *pь̑rxъ, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *piršas, from Proto-Indo-European *pŕ̥s-o-s, from *pers-.

(dated or dialectal, Far Masovian, derogatory, ethnic slur, religious slur, Judaism) kike, Yid (Jewish person)


professor

Fala: profesol

Galician: profesor

Portuguese: professor

1454, Michael de Villaboa, [Galicia Histórica]; republished as chapter 107, in Antonio López Ferreiro, editor, Galicia Histórica. Colección diplomática, Santiago: Tipografía Galaica, 1901–1903, page 469:


droga

Polish: droga

Silesian: (through dróga) drōga

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *dorga. First attested in the 14th century.

Droga vestigium (et ecce has sequebantur aliae septem boves..., quae devoratis et consumptis prioribus, nullum saturitatis dedere vestigium, sed simili macie et squalore torpebant Gen 41, 21)

1901 [1471], Materiały i Prace Komisji Językowej Akademii Umiejętności w Krakowie, volume V, page 13:


blacky

[I]t was agreed that two double beds were in requisition: — one for the host and hostess — and the other for the loving nigger and his wife, who it plainly appeared, had no inclination to be separated. Our hope was in a double bed — the one which the blacky and his fairer half looked at with a longing eye — but out of which he had no idea of turning: […]

1836, Pedestres (pseud.), Sir Clavileno Woodenpeg (knight of Snowdon, pseud.), A pedestrian tour of thirteen hundred and forty-seven miles through Wales and England (page 269)

Apropos of Van Balen, an artist who painted me lately had painted a blackamoor praying; and not filling his canvas, stuffed in his little girl aside of a blacky gaping at him unmeaningly; and then did not know what to call it.

1942, Eva Beatrice Dykes, The Negro in English Romantic Thought, page 91:

(informal, derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) A black person.


Jacky

(Australia, ethnic slur, offensive) An Aboriginal.


tabloid

From tabl(et) + -oid, originally created as a registered trademark by Burroughs, Wellcome & Company. See the Etymology section of the Wikipedia article "Tabloid".

‘It’s those tabloids!’ Conroy stamped his foot feebly as he blew his nose. ‘They’ve knocked me out. I used to be fit once.’

1911, Rudyard Kipling, In the Same Boat:

"Tabloids and duty!" says the doctor, and the sufferer sighs with relief.

1914 October 11, The Sunday Times, Perth, Australia, page 1, column 9:

(now rare) A compressed portion of drugs, chemicals, etc.; a tablet, a pill.

"A public school in Moperville, where the local newspaper is sold in neighboring towns with all the regard of a tabloid. We've got a reputation to protect! We can only report on confirmed monsters, like mega hogs, or Bigfoot!"

2009 January 20, Dan Shive, El Goonish Shive (webcomic), Comic for Tuesday, Jan 20, 2009:

Train operating companies get plenty of column inches in the tabloids, usually for negative reasons. Happily, Southeastern is worthy of praise for having made The Sun for something positive.

2024 February 21, Nick Brodrick, “Inclusion and development for all”, in RAIL, number 1003, page 62:

(publishing) A newspaper having pages half the dimensions of a broadsheet format, especially characterized as favouring stories of a sensational or popular nature over serious news.

таблоид

newspaper that favours stories of sensational nature


tabloid

tabloid journalism

I watched your 6 o'clock news today; it's straight tabloid. You had a minute and a half of that lady riding a bike naked in Central Park; on the other hand, you had less than a minute of hard national and international news.

1976, Paddy Chayefsky, Network, spoken by Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway):

Risk is everywhere. From tabloid headlines insisting that coffee causes cancer (yesterday, of course, it cured it) to stern government warnings about alcohol and driving, the world is teeming with goblins. For each one there is a frighteningly precise measurement of just how likely it is to jump from the shadows and get you.

2013 June 22, “Snakes and ladders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 76:


fotograf

ILLUSTRATED / With Fotografs / By J. Doody, the Sourdough Fotografer

1916, “Platinum Bill” [pseudonym; Wilfrid Robert Smith], Under the Northern Lights, Portland, Ore.: The Columbia Printing Co., title page:

(nonstandard) Eye dialect spelling of photograph.


gentleman

Chinese Pidgin English: gentleman

→ Danish: gentleman

→ Esperanto: ĝentlemano

→ French: gentleman

desctree

→ Russian: джентльмен (džentlʹmen)
→ Armenian: ջենտլմեն (ǰentlmen)
→ Georgian: ჯენტლმენი (ǯenṭlmeni)

→ Mohegan-Pequot: gundermon

→ Polish: dżentelmen

→ Portuguese: gentleman

→ Spanish: gentleman

→ Yiddish: דזשענטעלמען (dzhentelmen)

[ˈd͡ʒɛɾ̃.ɫ̩.mən]

From Middle English gentilman, morphologically gentle + man, partial calque of Old French gentilhome.

Being a gentleman, Robert was entitled to shove other commoners into the gongpit but he still had to jump out of the way of the knights to avoid the same fate himself.

And when their ſcattered armie is ſubdu’d:
And you march on their ſlaughtered carkaſſes,
Share equally the gold that bought their liues,
And liue like Gentlmen in Perſea, […]

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene ii:

But when Adam delued, and Eue ſpan,
VVho was then a Gentleman?

1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], Act I:

“[…] This is Mr. Churchill, who, as you are aware, is good enough to come to us for his diaconate, and, as we hope, for much longer; and being a gentleman of independent means, he declines to take any payment.” Saying this Walden rubbed his hands together and smiled contentedly.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

(chiefly historical) A man of gentle but not noble birth, particularly a man of means (originally ownership of property) who does not work for a living but has no official status in a peerage; (UK law) an armiferous man ranking below a knight.


Paki

Either a clipping of Pakistani or a back-formation from Pakistan. Doublet of Pak.

Their byword is Aggro (Aggravation) and their crucial enemies are hippies, homosexuals and Pakis (Pakistanis or Indians).

1970 March 29, Nik Cohn, “England's New Teen Style Is Violence”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Paragraph 2, DPP v Collins ([2006] 1 WLR 2223)
In these telephone calls and recorded messages the respondent, who held strong views on immigration and asylum policy and the provision of public support to immigrants and applicants for asylum, ranted and shouted and made reference to "Wogs", "Pakis", "Black bastards" and […] "Niggers".

(UK, Canada, by extension) Anyone whose origins are perceived to be from South Asia/the Indian subcontinent.


Paki

(British, Canada, derogatory, ethnic slur) Pakistani, or perceived to be Pakistani.


Paki

(ethnic slur) Paki (offensive term for a Pakistani)


maestro

Borrowed from Italian maestro, from Latin magister (“master”). Doublet of magister, master, and meister.


maestro

es-noun

maestro m (plural maestros, feminine maestra, feminine plural maestras)

maestros (plural)
maestra (feminine)
maestras (feminine plural)

Inherited from Latin magistrum. Doublet of magíster, borrowed from Latin, and máster, borrowed from English.

(master) craftsman, handyman, contractor, construction worker


mace

From Middle English mace, borrowed from Old French mace, mache, from Vulgar Latin *mattia, *mattea, matia, (compare Italian mazza, Spanish maza), probably from Proto-West Germanic *mattjō (“cutting tool, hoe”).

der

A long baton used by some drum majors to keep time and lead a marching band. If this baton is referred to as a mace, by convention it has a ceremonial often decorative head, which, if of metal, usually is hollow and sometimes intricately worked.


chimp

(offensive, ethnic slur) A black person.


baggy

en-adj

baggy (comparative baggier, superlative baggiest)

baggier (comparative)
baggiest (superlative)

→ French: baggy

Of clothing, very loose-fitting, so as to hang away from the body.

Pop historian Jon Savage listens to the best of the Stone Roses and their contemporaries – from Baby Ford to the Sabres of Paradise – and creates the perfect set of baggy playlists

2011 October 18, Jon Savage, “Stone Roses reunion: three baggy playlists”, in The Guardian:

The Birmingham band – now a five-piece after multi-instrumentalist James Balmont joined them – have ditched the loose and baggy guitar pop of 2013’s Where the Heaven Are We? in favour of psych-pop that contorts itself into pulsing Balearic acid house and motorik rhythms.

2015 October 1, Tshepo Mokoena, “Swim Deep: Mothers review – baggy indie kids embrace psych-pop”, in The Guardian:

(music) Of or relating to a British music genre of the 1980s and 1990s, influenced by Madchester and psychedelia and associated with baggy clothing.

a baggy book

(figurative) Of writing, etc.: overwrought; flabby; having too much padding.


baggy

I said dad you're a shabby / You run around and groove like a baggy / You're only here just out of habit

1990, “Kinky Afro”, in Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches, performed by Happy Mondays:

(UK) A member of the 1980/90s British music and fashion movement.


homeboy

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-homeboy.wav

20th century United States African-American urban slang. Originated from travelers to metropolitan areas derived from American English as a blend of hometown + boy. However, modern use is mostly by African-Americans and Latinos in the United States.

When the boy next door; Don't want to be my homeboy no more; Saw something that I never saw before; I think he wants to be my baby

(colloquial) Someone, particularly a male acquaintance, from one’s hometown.

(colloquial, African-American Vernacular) A close friend or fellow member of a youth gang.


homeboy

head

homeboy (third-person singular, masculine, nominative or objective case)

en-pron

(1:38) If homeboy’s coming through with these, it’s quiet. Yeah no, it’s quiet for him. But, like, if he comes through with, y’know, these; you got some air maxes out here, you got some Jordans. Homeboy’s gonna, like, get it.

2017 October 2, Complex (@Complex), YouTube:

Homeboy rafikied a peacock with a squeegee.

2023 February 1, Fiona’s Videos 🎬 (@fiona_videos), Twitter:

He's talking about the jumpscare warnings in Dead Space. The ones you can turn off. Homeboy takes gaming way too fucking seriously.

2023 January 31, IStandWithVic Posting Their L's Online (@ISWV_Losers), Twitter:

He hit homeboy in his junk

2023 January 28, Jovani Vasquez (@JovaniVasquez25), Twitter:

Should’ve listen to homeboy

2023 January 28, LaughTalkTV (@LaughTalkTV), Twitter:

(African-American Vernacular, slang) he or him


granny

The suitcase was old. The brown leather was battered and scuffed. Two hanks of clothesline had been wrapped around it and tied in large, clownish grannies.

1977, Stephen King, Children of the Corn:


Kraut

From German Kraut (“cabbage”), alluding to the use of cabbage as an ingredient in German cuisine (namely sauerkraut). First use appears c. 1833-1837, but popularized during the First and Second World Wars.

Those Krauts can't hurt you anymore. The only ones left are dead or dying.

1991, Art Spiegelman, Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began, New York: Pantheon Books, page 112:

(ethnic slur, offensive, derogatory, slang) A German.


pal

→ Afrikaans: pêl

PIE word
 *bʰréh₂tēr
Borrowed from Angloromani pal (“brother, friend”), from Romani phral (“brother”), from Sanskrit भ्रातृ (bhrātṛ, “brother”). Doublet of bhai, brother, frater, and friar.

doublet

Don't you threaten me, pal – I'll report you to the police.

(colloquial) An informal term of address, often used ironically in a hostile way.


yew

A spinoff, “Major Crimes,” starring “Battlestar Galactica” veteran Mary McDonnell and a number of “Closer” cast members, premieres in August. Sedgwick won’t be among them, swapping Brenda’s syrupy “thank yew” for an upbeat “buh-bye now” to her co-workers.

2012 July 1, T.L. Stanley, “No more crimes for her to solve”, in Los Angeles Times:


orc

→ Catalan: orc

→ Czech: ork

→ Danish: ork

→ Dutch: ork

→ Estonian: örk

→ Finnish: örkki

→ French: orc

→ Georgian: ორკი (orḳi)

→ Greek: ορκ (ork)

→ Hungarian: ork

→ Icelandic: orki

→ Japanese: オーク (ōku)

→ Korean: 오크 (okeu)

→ Latvian: orks

→ Lithuanian: orkas

→ Marathi: ऑर्क (ŏrka)

→ Norwegian: ork, orc

→ Polish: ork

→ Portuguese: orc

→ Romanian: orc

→ Russian: орк (ork)

→ Serbo-Croatian: ork / орк

→ Swedish: ork

→ Ukrainian: орк (ork)

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
J. R. R. Tolkien
orc

Probably from Italian orco (“man-eating giant”); later revived by J. R. R. Tolkien, partly after Old English orc, which he took to mean "demon". Both are from Latin Orcus (“the underworld; the god Pluto”). Doublet of ogre and Orcus.
Sense 2 is a semantic loan from Ukrainian орк (ork, “evil monstrous humanoid creature; orc”) or Russian орк (ork), both from the English word and possibly under the influence of Russian у́рка (úrka, “criminal”, prison slang). Popularized in English in 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

m+

(by extension, Internet slang, ethnic slur) A Russian person.


Romeo

From Italian Romeo, from Ancient Greek Ῥωμαῖος (Rhōmaîos, “Roman”).

der

A male given name from the Romance languages.


brownie

en-noun

brownie (countable and uncountable, plural brownies)

→ Belarusian: бра́ўні (bráŭni)

→ Chinese: 布朗尼 (bùlǎngní)

→ French: brownie

→ German: Brownie

→ Hungarian: brownie

→ Irish: donnóg (calque)

→ Italian: brownie

→ Japanese: ブラウニー (buraunī)

→ Lithuanian: braunis

→ Norwegian Nynorsk: brownie

→ Polish: brownie

→ Portuguese: brownie

→ Russian: бра́уни (bráuni)

→ Kazakh: брауни (brauni)

→ Spanish: brownie

→ Thai: บราวนี (bpraao-níi)

→ Turkish: brownie, browni, brovni

→ Welsh: browni

From brown + -ie (diminutive suffix). In folkloric sense, originally Scots.

(ethnic slur, offensive) A person with brown skin.


bro

PIE word
 *bʰréh₂tēr
Clipping of brother, Cf. scro.

Hey bro, sorry to bother you but I think I accidentally backed up into your car, can I make it up to you?

(slang) Brother, man; a friendly term of address for a male.


pod

Polish: pod

Silesian: pod

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *podъ. First attested in the 14th century.

The meaning of this term is uncertain. Possibilities include:

denotes following time just after [with accusative]

Ibant apostoli gaudentes a conspectu, pod oblicze (pro od oblicza?), concilli (Act 5, 41)

1956 [Fifteenth century], Jerzy Woronczak, editor, Teksty polskie w rękopisie nr 43 Biblioteki Kapitulnej we Wrocławiu z połowy XV wieku, Silesia, page 112r:


bogan

Unknown. First appeared in Australia in the 1980s. Possibly in reference to supposedly unsophisticated people from remote outback places such as the Bogan River or Bogan Gate (cf. dubbo from Dubbo).

(New Zealand, slang, derogatory, ethnic slur) An Anglo-Celtic member of a lower socioeconomic group, stereotypically classified as wearing black jumpers or black concert T-shirts.

westy

Australia (esp. Sydney), NZ (esp. Auckland)


mar

Eye dialect spelling of mal, representing Caipira Portuguese.


az

The whole legiſlature likewize acts az a court for the trial of public delinquents.

1790, Noah Webster, A Collection of Essays and Fugitiv Writings, pages 340–341:


slut

From Middle English slutt, slutte, slute (“a dirty or slovenly person, usually a woman, scullery maid; messy animal to prepare as food; slush, mud”), probably from Old English *slȳte (“sleet”), from Proto-West Germanic *slautijā, from Proto-Germanic *slautijǭ (“sleet, hail”), related to Proto-West Germanic *slaut (“puddle, ditch”). Compare Dutch slodder and slet, dialectal Swedish slata (“idle woman”), Norwegian sludd (“sleet”), and the dialectal Norwegian slutr (“sleet, impure liquid”). Doublet of sleet.

cog

(obsolete) A rag soaked in a flammable substance and lit for illumination.


citron

From Latin citrus (“citron tree, thuja”), probably connected with Ancient Greek κέδρος (kédros, “cedar, juniper”).

(slang, offensive, ethnic slur) East Asian


za

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *za. First attested in the 14th century.

Yssze Marczin ne odmouil Yana szoltisa od rok za swego pana za Wolwrama

1959 [1398], Henryk Kowalewicz, Władysław Kuraszkiewicz, editors, Wielkopolskie roty sądowe XIV-XV wieku, Roty poznańskie, volume I, number 381, Poznań:


scrap

en-noun

scrap (countable and uncountable, plural scraps)

From Middle English scrappe, from Old Norse skrap, from skrapa (“to scrape, scratch”), from Proto-Germanic *skrapōną, *skrepaną (“to scrape, scratch”), from Proto-Indo-European *skreb-, *skrep- (“to engrave”).

(ethnic slur, offensive) A Hispanic criminal, especially a Mexican or one affiliated with the Sureno gang.


wey

Variant of güey, representing the relaxed pronunciation of the /ɡw/ sounds.

(Mexico, colloquial slang, eye dialect, Internet) chump, punk, dumbass, idiot, jerk


jak

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *jako (“how, in which way”). First attested in the 15th century.

inh+

A thak albo jak (war. lub.: tak a wsak) igitur (igitur perfecti sunt caeli et terra Gen 2, 1)

1901 [1471], Materiały i Prace Komisji Językowej Akademii Umiejętności w Krakowie, volume V, page 7:


doll

en-noun

doll (plural dolls or (Internet slang) dollz)

desc

→ Kashubian: dolka (Canada, United States, New Zealand)

From Doll, a popular pet form of Dorothy.

The signals are on a three-doll bracket post; one doll carries two [signal] arms, one above the other.

1943 March and April, “Notes and News: Peculiar Distant Signals on L.N.E.R”, in Railway Magazine, page 116:

(rail transport) A short signal post mounted on a bracket mounted on the main signal post, or on a signal gantry.


golf

golf (nominative singular)
golfy (nominative plural)
golfa (genitive singular)
golfów (genitive plural)
golfowi (dative singular)
golfom (dative plural)
golfa (accusative singular)
golfy (accusative plural)
golfem (instrumental singular)
golfami (instrumental plural)
golfie (locative singular)
golfach (locative plural)
golfie (singular vocative)
golfy (plural vocative)

Borrowed from German Volkswagen Golf, a genericized trademark.


shite

en-noun

shite (usually uncountable, plural shites)

From the Middle English shite, schite, scīte (“excrement”), cognate with Middle Low German schīte, Middle High German schīze, Dutch schijt. Compare Middle English shitel, scitel, scytel (“dung, excrement”), from Old English sċitel. More at shit. Doublet of scheisse.

That’s a load of shite.

Look at all this shite.

(chiefly UK, Ireland, vulgar) Shit; trash; rubbish; nonsense

He's a useless shite.

(chiefly UK, Ireland, vulgar, derogatory, uncommon) A foolish or deceitful person.


shite

en-adj

shite (comparative more shite, superlative most shite)

more shite (comparative)
most shite (superlative)

The film was utter shite.

(chiefly UK, Ireland, vulgar) Bad; awful; shit.


shite

Shite! I left my wallet at home.

(chiefly UK, Ireland, vulgar) An expression of annoyance or dismay.


shite

en-verb

shite (third-person singular simple present shites, present participle shiting, simple past shited or shit or shat, past participle shited or shitten)

shites (present singular third-person)
shiting (participle present)
shited (past)
shit (past)
shat (past)
shited (participle past)
shitten (participle past)

From Middle English schiten, from Old English sċītan (“to defecate, shit”), from Proto-West Germanic *skītan, from Proto-Germanic *skītaną (“to defecate”), from Proto-Indo-European *sḱeyd-, *skeyt- (“to vomit, retch, shit”, literally “to shed”). Cognate with Dutch schijten (“to shit”), German scheißen (“to shit”), Swedish skita (“to shit”), Irish sceith, sgeith (“act of spewing, vomiting, shedding”), Albanian shqit (“to tear, separate”).

inh

[…] it still softened my heart to see a man hurt so badly he sobbed and shited on himself.

2004, Robert Morgan, Brave enemies, page 38:

He would probably have a head full of locks. Who has time to be pretty when people are hurting? Crying. Shiting on themselves trying to beat heroin.

2007, Talonie Starr, Growth Manifesto, page 173:

I have eaten a dishful of curds,
And I have shitten your mouth full of turds.

2011, Douglas Bruster, Eric Rasmussen, Everyman and Mankind:

(UK, chiefly Scotland, Ireland, vulgar) To defecate.


yelm

English: yelm, yealm

Inherited from Old English ġilm, ġelm (“handful”), from Proto-West Germanic *galmi, possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃- (“to flourish”).

der

(hapax) yelm, yealm (sheaf of straw for thatching)


ninja

Enter the Ninja
Eric Van Lustbader
Hokusai Manga
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
ninja

A romanized borrowing of Japanese 忍者 (ninja), popularized within Japanese by manga after World War II and in English by Eric Van Lustbader's 1980 novel The Ninja and the 1981 movie Enter the Ninja, of uncertain derivation but with an underlying sense of secret or hidden person.
The “Mongolian miner” sense arose from the supposed resemblance of the bowls used to wash ore with mercury to the shells of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
The Juggalo slang sense arose via influence from AAVE nigga.

(euphemistic, vulgar, derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) nigger.


slope

en-noun

slope (countable and uncountable, plural slopes)

(vulgar, offensive, ethnic slur) A person of Chinese or other East Asian descent.


eek

en-verb

eek (third-person singular simple present eeks, present participle eeking, simple past and past participle eeked)

eeks (present singular third-person)
eeking (participle present)
eeked (participle past)
eeked (past)

onomatopoeic

Imitative

(slang, ethnic slur, offensive) Of a black person, to speak nonsense or gibberish.


tonto

es-adj

tonto (feminine tonta, masculine plural tontos, feminine plural tontas)

tonta (feminine)
tontos (masculine plural)
tontas (feminine plural)

→ Tetelcingo Nahuatl: tunto

→ Tagalog: tonto

Uncertain. Latin attonitus has been proposed, but there are phonological difficulties, namely unexpected loss of initial /a/ and lack of diphthongization; cf. the expected outcome atuendo. Tonto may have an expressive or onomatopoeic origin. Another hypothesis is that it derives from *tontum, a 'vulgar' past participle for Latin tondeo (“to shear”). Compare Italian tonto, Portuguese tonto, and Romanian tont, tânt.


bud

[T]hen he shrugged his shoulders and said, with admirable philosophy: "Well, that's life, ain't it, bud?"

1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 87:

(informal, chiefly Canada) Synonym of guy, term of address for a man or person.


hajji

Borrowed from Middle French hagi, from Ottoman Turkish حاجی (hacı), from Classical Persian حَاجِی (hājī).

(derogatory, slang, US, ethnic slur) A Muslim or Arab.


daddy

Rock 'n' roll is cool, daddy, and you know it!

(dated slang) An informal term of address for a man.


spic

Possibly imitative of a Hispanic pronunciation of speak. Usually considered a contraction of the earlier used spiggoty.

(US, offensive, derogatory, ethnic slur) A Latino; a person of Latin American descent.

“He’s a spic” he said. He was frantic with jealousy, he didn’t want to be hurt again.

1934, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, Tender is the Night: A Romance, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC; republished as Malcolm Cowley, editor, Tender is the Night: A Romance … With the Author’s Final Revisions, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1951, →OCLC, book IV (Escape: 1925–1929), page 236:

(US, ethnic slur, originally) A person of Italian descent.


cracker

From crack + -er. From crack (verb), the sound made when one is broken. The hard "bread" and "biscuit" sense is first attested in 1739. The computing senses of cracker, crack, and cracking were promoted in the 1980s as an alternative to hacker, by programmers concerned about negative public associations of hack, hacking (“creative computer coding”). See Citations:cracker. Various theories exist regarding the term's application to poor white Southerners. One theory holds that it originated with disadvantaged corn and wheat farmers (corncrackers), who cracked their crops rather than taking them to the mill. Another theory asserts that it was applied due to Georgia and Florida settlers (Florida crackers) who cracked loud whips to drive herds of cattle, or, alternatively, from the whip cracking of plantation slave drivers. Yet another theory maintains that the term cracker was in use in Elizabethan times to describe braggarts (see crack (“to boast”)); a letter from 1766 supports this theory.

Brothers and the whiteys / Blacks and the crackers / Police and their backers / They're all political actors

1970, “(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go”, in Curtis, performed by Curtis Mayfield:

Check this shit: You got cracker farm boy Luke Skywalker, Nazi poster boy, blond hair, blue eyes. And then you got Darth Vader, the blackest brother in the galaxy, Nubian god!

1997, Kevin Smith, Chasing Amy, spoken by Hooper (Dwight Ewell):

“You know that old cracker beat them boys.”

2019, Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys, Fleet, page 202:

(US, derogatory, ethnic slur, offensive) An impoverished white person from the southeastern United States, originally associated with Georgia and parts of Florida; (by extension) any white person (slang).


firewire

From fire + wire. In the first sense ("high speech digital link standard"), the term was originally a trade name—capitalized FireWire—used by Apple Inc. as it developed the standard in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

A system of wires or tubes designed to detect fire and trigger automatic fire-extinguishers in an aircraft engine compartment for example.


мужик

ru-noun+

мужи́к • (mužík) m anim (genitive мужика́, nominative plural мужики́, genitive plural мужико́в, relational adjective мужи́цкий or мужи́чий, diminutive мужичо́к, augmentative мужичи́ще, pejorative мужичо́нка or мужичи́шка)

мужи́к (canonical)
mužík (romanization)
мужика́ (genitive)
мужики́ (nominative plural)
мужико́в (genitive plural)
мужи́цкий (adjective relational)
мужи́чий (adjective relational)
мужичо́к (diminutive)
мужичи́ще (augmentative)
мужичо́нка (pejorative)
мужичи́шка (pejorative)
мужи́к (nominative singular)
мужики́ (nominative plural)
мужика́ (genitive singular)
мужико́в (genitive plural)
мужику́ (dative singular)
мужика́м (dative plural)
мужика́ (accusative singular)
мужико́в (accusative plural)
мужико́м (instrumental singular)
мужика́ми (instrumental plural)
мужике́ (prepositional singular)
мужика́х (plural prepositional)

→ Armenian: մուժիկ (mužik)

→ Azerbaijani: mujik

→ Persian: موژیک (mužik)

→ English: mujik, muzhik

→ French: moujik

→ Georgian: მუჯიკი (muǯiḳi)

→ German: Muschik, Mushik

→ Polish: mużyk

→ Ubykh: мыжыӄ (məẑəq)

From муж (muž, “man (dated); husband”) + -ик (-ik).

af

Послу́шайте, мужики́!

(colloquial) Term of address for men to each other


twat

Unknown origin. Possibly cognate with Old Norse þveit (“cut, slit, forest clearing”), and if so a doublet of thwaite. May however simply be onomatopoeic or sound-symbolic.

uder

At 4pm, the phone went. It was The Sun: 'We hear your daughter's been expelled for cheating at her school exams...'
She'd made a remark to a friend at the end of the German exam and had been pulled up for talking.
As they left the exam room, she muttered that the teacher was a 'twat'. He heard and flipped—a pretty stupid thing to do, knowing the kids were tired and tense after exams. Instead of dropping it, the teacher complained to the Head and Deb was carpeted.

"LARGE MOCHA TO GO, MEDIUM CHAI FOR HERE, YOU TWATS"

2009, Jeph Jacques, Questionable Content (webcomic), Number 1433: Sweet Distraction:

(offensive, vulgar, slang, chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A contemptible and stupid person, idiot.


white trash

→ Swedish: WT

A shortening, first attested in 1850, of poor white trash, which black slaves in the Southern United States were said to call white individuals who worked in servile positions (for example, as butlers).

This white trash can't pay for his own beer.

These lowlife characters are white trash.

Among these odd folk, who correspond exactly to the decadent element of “white trash” in the South, law and morals are non-existent; and their general mental status is probably below that of any other section of the native American people.

1919, H. P. Lovecraft, Beyond the Wall of Sleep:

“So, he is the father of Emmie Slattery’s baby,” thought Scarlett. “Oh, well. What else can you expect from a Yankee man and a white-trash girl?”

1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, 1944, →OCLC, part I, page 71:

When Linda was two and living in a San Pedro dive with her white-trash parents, he was twelve and gaining clandestine access to wealthy homes in Bronxville and Scarsdale, New York, exorcising his nocturnal heart by delivering himself to the quiet muse of other people's dwellings, sometimes stealing, sometimes not. . . .

1987 [1984], James Ellroy, Because the Night, New York: Avon, →ISBN, page 31:

Just some Portland white trash / You confronted your sorrow / Like there was no tomorrow / While the rest of the world only laughed

2017, “Tonya Harding”, performed by Sufjan Stevens:

(US, idiomatic, derogatory, ethnic slur, offensive) A poorly educated white person or, collectively, white people of low social status and often regarded as lazy, irresponsible, unintelligent, etc.

白色垃圾

white person or people of low social status (pejorative)


guy

PIE word
 *h₁weydʰh₁-
Coined by semantic widening from the name of Guy Fawkes (1570–1606), an English Catholic executed for his role in the Gunpowder Plot, from Old French Gui, a form of Proto-Germanic *Wido, a short form of names beginning with the element witu "wood" from Proto-Germanic *widuz, such as Witold and Widukind. Cognate with Italian Guido.

(UK, Ireland) An effigy of a man burned on a bonfire on the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot (5th November).


guy

en-verb

guy (third-person singular simple present guys, present participle guying, simple past and past participle guyed)

guys (present singular third-person)
guying (participle present)
guyed (participle past)
guyed (past)

(intransitive) To exhibit an effigy of Guy Fawkes around the 5th November.

To guy the speech in the manner of an old-fashioned 'ham' for cheap laughs....

2000, John Southworth, Shakespeare the Player:

(theater, transitive) To play in a comedic manner.


lassie

I had been on a message for my father, and was walking home along the road, when I saw a tall, fine lassie coming over the bogland on the right hand side of the road.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 27:

It was the day of warlocks and apparitions, now happily driven out by the zeal of the General Assembly. Witches pursued their wanchancy calling, bairns were spirited away, young lassies selled their souls to the Evil One, and the Accuser of the Brethren, in the shape of a black tyke, was seen about cottage doors in the gloaming.

1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

She was caught in this git-a-man, git-a-bairn, git-a-hoose shite that lassies git drummed intae them, and hud nae real chance ay defining hersel ootside ay they mashed-tattie-fir-brains terms ay reference.

1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, “Bang to Rites”, in Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 220:

Green grow the rushes, oh
Green grow the rushes, oh
The sweetest hours that e'er I spent
Are spent among the lassies, oh

2012, “Green Grow the Rushes”, performed by Celtic Woman:

(chiefly Scotland, Northern England, Geordie, Northumbria) A young girl, a lass, especially one seen as a sweetheart.


keso

From the dairy company Arla's cottage cheese product Keso, the name of which originates from Spanish queso (“cheese”). The word has since become a genericized trademark and is largely synonymous with cottage cheese.


ลาว

Uncertain. Compare Old Khmer lahv, lāhv, lāhva, Northern Thai ᩃᩣ᩠ᩅ (lāaw), Lao ລາວ (lāo), Lü ᦟᦱᧁ (laaw). Possibly related to Northern Thai ᩉᩖᩮᩢ᩵ᩣ (làw), ᩃᩮᩢᩣ (lāw), Tai Dón ꪹꪩꪱ, Thai ละว้า (lá-wáa), ลัวะ (lúa).

(ethnic slur, derogatory, offensive) being from a low social class; uncivilised; countrified

(ethnic slur, derogatory, offensive) unfashionable

(ethnic slur, derogatory, offensive) dull; unintelligent; slow of understanding

(ethnic slur, derogatory, offensive) gauche; awkward; lacking social graces


vivid

Learned borrowing from Latin vividus (“animated, spirited”), from vivere (“to live”), akin to vita (“life”), Ancient Greek βίος (bíos, “life”).
The noun sense (a type of marker pen) was genericized from Bic's Vivid Marker brand.

lbor

(New Zealand) A felt-tipped permanent marker; a marker pen.


bong

(ethnic slur) An Australian Aboriginal person.


coz

Content thee, gentle coz, let him alone.

c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]:

1844, Elizabeth Oakes Smith, "The Love Quarrel", in The Columbian Magazine Vol 1. Issue 1. page 6, col. 2, New York, Israel Post, ed John Inman
"I do not expect that, coz; nor do I desire it."

(informal) cousin (usually as a term of address)


doofus

Perhaps an alteration of earlier goofus (first attested in the 1920s), due to influence from Scots doof (“simpleton”). Scots doof is derived from Low German doof (“deaf", with a secondary sense of "idiotic, stupid”). The Low Saxon word is cognate with English deaf.
Some have proposed that perhaps dupe played some kind of role in the development of doofus as well.

Stocks Genius or Dot-Com Doofus? – Wired News

Danny is such a doofus!

Nichols had called Bonilla a doofus who was too damn stupid to realize that he was being taken by a hooker with a convincing sob story.
Even if Steve was a doofus, Nichols and Rand were quite willing to work for him as long as he had money.

1998, Ann Rule, “In the Name of Love”, in In the Name of Love and Other True Cases: Ann Rule's Crime Files Volume 4, page 185:

They weren't excited about acquiring new information; they were relieved to find out they aren't the only doofuses (or maybe the word is "doofi") in the world of rusty machinery.

2000, Roger L. Welsch, Love, Sex and Tractors, page 16:

2005 October 17, Kevin Amorin, Mewsday, quoted in 2007, Troth Wells, T-Shirt, page 14,
Being too young to attend a show on Bowie's 1983 Serious Moonlight tour, I did what any underage doofus would do. I bought a concert T-shirt – three-quarter-length blue sleeves, image of Major Tom himself on the front.

"I never seen so many doofuses in one place!"
"That's doofi, Krakauer. Sorry to correct you."

2009, B. K. Holway, When Jack Was with Us, page 115:

"No problem. You get a bimbo babe who's engaged to a doofus who will fall for the virgin birth line and still marry her.[…]However, I don't think a doofus fiancé will be hard to find; there's no shortage of doofuses on the earth."

2014, G. Richard Bozarth, Bible Tales for Ages 18 and Up, page 219:

(slang, derogatory, sometimes affectionately, humorous) A person with poor judgment and taste; a foolish or silly person.


wimmin

Eye dialect, also used as a feminist spelling of the word women in order to deliberately exclude the word men, which is synchronically a component of women.

I thank the lord that thare aint menny wimmin in the wurld who want tu know evry thing. I kalkerlate that 9 out ov evry 10 ov the wimmin who luv their huzbands and glory in their children, will sa that tha had ruther be looked down upon in luving tenderniss than tu be looked up tu in silent aw.

1871, Josh Billings, Hiz Sayings, page 27:

"Damn waste of time," he always said of the convention. "Nothin but drinkin and wimmin, and none of the wimmin even worth lookin at, let alone that other thing."

2009, Stephen King, Nightmares & Dreamscapes, page 195:


dawg

That dawg won't hunt.


limey

In adjectival senses, by surface analysis, lime + -y.
In the sense of Englishman, reduced from the 19th century term lime-juicer (“British ship”), from the lime juice British ships carried to ward off scurvy.

Ya look like anything ’cept a tourist who’s come to lose his wad and they get a bad case of nose trouble. Take yaself. Anyone can see ya’re a Limey even before ya start talking.

1956, Ian Fleming, chapter 15, in Diamonds Are Forever:

(US, Australia, New Zealand, slang, derogatory) An Englishman or other Briton, or a person of British descent; an English or British immigrant.


mommy

→ Hebrew: מָאמִי (mámi)

The only bad-karma-reducing sposie on the market is a new line of biodegradable (meaning here "useless") sposie that won't last through the lightest of baby pees and will force you to change baby approximately once every thirty seconds, thereby completely undoing any so-called karma reduction. Only bad mommies use sposies.

2012, Willow Yamahchi, Bad Mommy, Insomniac Press, →ISBN, page 91:

They will never part even though in mommy's heart she wishes daddy would leave forever. One grief-some January 25 mommy rested never to return for her and daddy went on a walk. “Where is mommy”, said baby but daddy couldn't talk.

2015, Paul Easter, Consciousness Before Conscience:


nicker

(euphemistic, vulgar, derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) nigger.


å

Korv å mos

(eye dialect) Contraction of och (“and”).


å

Men det har varit svårt för småpartierna å nå ut i år med frågor som […]

2023 November 2, 11:12 from the start, in Rapport 19:30, spoken by Andreas Öbrink:

But it has been difficult for the small parties to reach out this year with issues such as […]

(eye dialect) Contraction of och (“to”).


hombre

Borrowed from Spanish hombre (“man; human being”), from Old Spanish omne, from Latin hominem, accusative of homō (“a human being, a person”), from Old Latin hemō, from Proto-Italic *hemō (“man”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰmṓ (“earthling”), from *dʰéǵʰōm (“earth”).

[W]e're glad to learn that the Yankee bullet has not quite stopped your breath. You're all right, hombre!

c. 1850, [Thomas] Mayne Reid, “A Group of Jarochos”, in The Guerilla Chief, and Other Tales, London: C. H. Clarke, 13, Paternoster Row, →OCLC, page 62:

That hombre now with the worn out hat, tattered shirt, and fragmentary breeches, wears a sword. Bless you, his dignity would suffer greatly without it!

1852 March 8, E. P., “Golden Correspondence.—No. 1”, in J[oseph] M. Church, editor, Church’s Bizarre. For Fireside and Wayside, volume I, number 1 (New Series), Philadelphia, Pa.: Church & Co., 140 Chestnut Street, published 17 April 1852, →OCLC, page 9, column 2:

The foreman. As tough an hombre who ever lived. If Mr. Bell had sent Jackson instead of me, he'd take your rifle and beat you half to death with it.

2010, Jon Sharpe [pseudonym], chapter 1, in Rocky Mountain Revenge (The Trailsman; no. 342), New York, N.Y.: Signet Books, New American Library, →ISBN:

There was a pause I didn't like, punctuated by shrieks of shrill laughter from the hombres at the bar. Only Mexicans can laugh like that.

2016, Lawrence Winkler, “Bajada”, in Orion’s Cartwheel (Cartwheels Quadrilogy; 1), Victoria, B.C.: First Choice Books, →ISBN, page 22:

(chiefly US, in Spanish-speaking contexts, slang) A man, a chap, a guy; especially a Hispanic or Spanish man.


hombre

Chavacano: hombre

→ English: hombre

→ French: hombre
→ English: ombre

→ Papiamentu: hòmber

Inherited from Old Spanish omne, from Latin hominem, homō, from Old Latin hemō, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰmṓ (“earthling”). The Old Spanish form omne was first dissimilated to omre and then a gliding sound -b- arose before the -r-. Compare the same development in hambre and nombre.

manos besa el hombre, que querría ver cortadas


cobber

Uncertain. Perhaps from Yiddish חבֿר (khaver, “friend, comrade”), from Hebrew חבר (ḥāḇēr, “friend”), possibly via Dutch gabber; alternately, perhaps from the British dialectal term cob (“take a liking to”), or a conflation of both. The suggestion that it is a self-referential collective term for convicts and immigrants who departed for Australian shores from the Irish port of Cobh seems chronologically unlikely.

der

(Australia) A sweet consisting of a small block of hard caramel covered in chocolate.


chug

Onomatopoeic, in imitation of a working steam engine. The racial slur sense derives from the stereotype of Native Americans chugging alcohol.

(derogatory, ethnic slur) A person of Native American descent.


rugby

en-noun

rugby (countable and uncountable, plural rugbies)

Rugby School
Rugby World Cup
University College London

→ Afrikaans: rugby

→ Catalan: rugbi

→ Cebuano: rugby

→ Czech: rugby, ragby

→ Danish: rugby

→ Dutch: rugby

→ French: rugby (see there for further descendants)

→ German: Rugby

→ Hindi: रग्बी (ragbī)

→ Irish: rugbaí

→ Italian: rugby

→ Japanese: ラグビー (ragubī)

→ Korean: 럭비 (reokbi)

→ Portuguese: rugby, râguebi, rúgbi

→ Russian: регби (regbi)

→ Serbo-Croatian: rȁgbi, ра̏гби

→ Spanish: rugby

→ Thai: รักบี้ (rák-bîi)

→ Welsh: rygbi

From the name of Rugby School in Rugby, in Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom, where the modern game was developed in the 19th century. The place name Rugby is attested in the Domesday Book as Old English Rocheberie (probably equivalent to rook (“Corvus frugilegus, a bird of the crow family”) + -by (suffix indicating a village or town)), possibly from *Hrōcebyriġ, dative singular of *Hrōceburh, from hrōc (“rook”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ker- (“to crow”)) + burh, burg (“castle, fort, stronghold; city; town”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“hill, mountain; high, lofty; to rise”)).

der

(specifically) The form of the game known as rugby union (see the usage note).

I don't know why, but for some reason people who work undercover for department store security always wear rugbies and khakis.

2003, B. Lawson Thornton, Misery Loves Company: The Diary of Kerri Mitchell, East River Press, →ISBN:

Jansports and cargo pants were everywhere, set off with overstated polos, rugbies, and sweatshirts blaring the logos of hip hop designers.

2007, Adam Mansbach, Angry Black White Boy: […], Crown, →ISBN, page 69:

I bought three jogging suits, a pair of Polo sneakers, and two rugbies.

2015, Tony Jackson, From the Streets to the Sheets, Page Publishing, →ISBN:

(countable) Ellipsis of rugby shirt (“a shirt of the kind worn by rugby players, usually short-sleeved and with a buttoned opening at the neck like a polo shirt, but with a stiffer collar”).


rugby

Genericized trademark from Rugby, a brand of rubber cement by Bostik.

(Philippines) Rubber cement, contact cement; commonly associated with solvent abuse, as it is often used as an inhalant.


rugby

From Rugby, (a brand of rubber cement by Bostik).


darling

From Middle English derelyng, from Old English dīerling (“darling, favorite, minion; also household god”), corresponding to dear + -ling.

inh

Pass the wine, would you, darling?

Oh! Darling, please believe me / I'll never do you no harm

1969, Paul McCartney (lyrics and music), “Oh! Darling”, in Abbey Road, performed by The Beatles:

Oh, I could drink a case of you, darling / Still I'd be on my feet

1972, Joni Mitchell (lyrics and music), “A Case of You”, in Blue:


cud

'Twas the anchor-ice comin' up. To the right, to the lift, as far as iver a man cud see, the water was covered with the same.

1899, Jack London, The Men of Forty-Mile:

(nonstandard, informal) Eye dialect spelling of could.


master

Sranan Tongo: masra

→ Catalan: màster

→ Finnish: master

→ French: master

→ German: Master

→ Polish: master

→ Portuguese: máster

→ Spanish: máster

→ Turkish: master

From Middle English maister, mayster, meister (noun) and maistren (verb), from Old English mǣster, mæġster, mæġester, mæġister, magister (“master”), from Latin magister (“chief, teacher, leader”), from Old Latin magester, from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s, (as in magnus (“great”)) + -ester/-ister (compare minister (“servant”)). Reinforced by Old French maistre, mestre (noun) and maistriier, maister (verb) from the same Latin source. Compare also Saterland Frisian Mäster (“master”), West Frisian master (“master”), Dutch meester (“master”), German Meister (“master”). Doublet of maestro, magister, and meister.

doublet

Southern US, African-American Vernacular, obsolete

use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house

(nautical) The captain of a merchant ship; a master mariner.

(by extension) A person holding a similar office in other civic societies.

puheenjohtaja

The use of masters and submasters will enable suites of rooms to be controlled by one key.

2020, Jane M. Wiggins, Facilities Manager's Desk Reference, page 517:


beloved

en-adj

beloved (comparative more beloved, superlative most beloved)

more beloved (comparative)
most beloved (superlative)

From Middle English beloved, biloved, equivalent to belove + -ed.

But I found at laſt, by hearing and conſidering of things that are Divine, which indeed I heard of you, as alſo of beloved Faithful, that was put to death for his Faith and good-living in Vanity-fair, That the end of these things is death. [Rom[ans] 6. 21, 22, 23.] And that for theſe things ſake, the wrath of God cometh upon the children of diſobedience. [Eph[esians] 5. 6.]

1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, pages 187–188:

When the Toy had once taken Jupiter in the Head to Enter into a State of Matrimony, he Reſolv'd for the Honour of his Celeſtial Lady, that the whole World ſhould keep a Feſtiual upon the Day of his Marriage, and ſo Invited all Living Creatures, Tag-Rag and Bob-Tail, to the Solemnity to his Wedding. They all came in very Good Time, ſaving the Tortoiſe. Jupiter […] Ask'd him, Why ſo Late? Why truly ſays the Tortoiſe, I was at Home, at my Own Houſe, my Dearly Beloved Houſe, and [Home is Home, let it be never ſo Homely.]

1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[The Fables of Æsop, &c.] Fab[le] CLXXXV. Jupiters Wedding.”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC, page 155:

It is ſcarce poſſible to imagine the Conſternation I was now in, being driven from my beloved Iſland (for ſo it appeared to me now to be) into the wide Ocean, almoſt two Leagues, and in the utmoſt Deſpair of ever recovering it again.

1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, pages 164–165:

There was a youthe, and a well-beloved youthe, / And he was a ſquires ſon: / He loved the bayliffes daughter deare, / That lived in Iſlington.

1765, Thomas Percy, compiler, “The Bailiff’s Daughter of Islington”, in Reliques of Ancient English Poetry: […], volume III, London: […] J[ames] Dodsley […], →OCLC, book II, page 133, lines 1–4:

The vacuum brake, much beloved by English- (though not Scottish-) built or inspired railways, but little favoured elsewhere.

1964 March, “Train braking - the next steps”, in Modern Railways, page 186:

In yonder corner your little chair, / where you often sat at my knee, / singing your sweet murmuring hymns, / my belovèd child!

2014, Niall MacLeòid, “The Death of the Widow's Child”, in Meg Bateman, Anne Loughran, editors, Bàird Ghleann Dail = The Glendale Bards: A Selection of Songs and Poems by Niall MacLeòid (1843–1913), ‘The Bard of Skye’, His Brother Ian Dubh (1847–1901) and Their Father Dòmhnall nan Òran (c. 1787–1873), Edinburgh: John Donald, →ISBN, verse 4:


jig

Probably a clipping of jigaboo, of uncertain origin, perhaps an African/Bantu word. Alternatively, jigaboo may be derived from jig (“dance”).

“You got a new jig, huh?” The boy looked out at Jones through his swirls of oiled hair. “What happened to the last one? He die or something?”

a. 1969, John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces, Penguin, published 1981, →ISBN:

“…Lucky for me he wasn’t a jig, otherwise I couldn’t have done it.”
“Jig?”
“Nigger. Afro American.” His voice was heavy with sarcasm.

2011, Andrew Lithgow, Retribution, →ISBN, page 228:

(US, offensive, slang, dated, ethnic slur) A black person.


sport

en-verb

sport (third-person singular simple present sports, present participle sporting, simple past and past participle sported)

sports (present singular third-person)
sporting (participle present)
sported (participle past)
sported (past)

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

From Middle English sporten (verb) and sport, spoort, sporte (noun), apheretic shortenings of disporten (verb) and disport, disporte (noun). More at disport.

Against whom do ye sport yourselves?

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 57:4:

(reflexive) To divert; to amuse; to make merry.


jujube

From Middle English jujube, from Medieval Latin jujuba or Old French jujube, perhaps via Old Occitan from Classical Latin zīzyphum, zīzyphus, from Ancient Greek ζίζυφον (zízuphon)․ First attested in the 14th century.

(Canada, US) A type of candy; specific type varies by country.


popper

en-noun

popper (countable and uncountable, plural poppers)

From Middle English poppere, equivalent to pop + -er (suffix forming agent noun).
(capsule of amyl nitrite): From the popping sound when the capsule is broken open.

Ryan knelt up in bed with his knees against Kick's side. "You okay?" Ryan asked. / "Too much popper," he said. “Maybe I have jet lag.

2005, Jack Fritscher, Some Dance to Remember: A Memoir-novel of San Francisco, 1970-1982, page 340:

Maybe he has some popper—that's a gay drug, right? Nicholas Nugent should at least have some popper . . . Art, leaning into the gaggle. Nicholas Nugent, shaking his pretty head. No popper. Do you think it's possible to popper yourself gay?

2019, Lars Iyer, Nietzsche and the Burbs, page 38:


boo

Of unknown origin. First appears c. 1959 in Esquire Magazine.

[…] sexually promiscuous girl who smoked boo all day and socialized with junkies when she wasn't busy banging away in bed […]

1967, George E. Andrews, Simon Vinkenoog, The Book of Grass: An Anthology on Indian Hemp, page 213:

Like I have smoked boo, drunk whiskey, and shot dope, and I was going through all three bags at once.

1984, Raphael S. Ezekiel, Voices from the corner: poverty and racism in the inner city, page 56:

Grandpa doesn't want Grandma and their kids and grandkids to know that he had to get penicillin shots all the time, or that he smoked boo (marijuana) on a daily basis, or that he dealt in the black market, or that he had yobos (purchased live-in sex slaves).

2019, Ron Cook, On Guard in the General's Chorus, page 2:


klaxon

Chilton Company
D. C. Heath and Company
Miller Reese Hutchison
United States Navy

A dive alert, or klaxon, aboard a World War II United States Navy submarine
From the trademark Klaxon, based on Ancient Greek κλάζω (klázō, “make a sharp sound; scream”) (from Proto-Indo-European *glag- (“to make a noise, clap, twitter”), from *gal- (“to roop, scream, shout”)). The word was coined by Franklyn Hallett Lovell Jr., the founder of the Lovell-McConnell Manufacturing Co. of Newark, New Jersey, USA, which in 1908 obtained a licence of the patent to the machine generating the sound from American inventor Miller Reese Hutchison (1876–1944).

refn

From Arthur W[illiam] Dunn (1920) “Why We Have Government”, in Harold W. Foght, editor, Community Civics and Rural Life (Rural Education Series), Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: D. C. Heath and Company, →OCLC, page 46.

der

And she went so swiftly that he could only follow her to the door. The large shape of the car swallowed her up; and the car twisted softly around the little drive and away to the London road. Minutes later he heard its Klaxon, just one sharp keen, like the harsh cry of a sea-bird. …

1922 October, Michael Arlen, “Book the Third: The Antagonists. Chapter V.”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, London, Glasgow: W[illiam] Collins Sons & Co., […], published August 1924, →OCLC, section 1, page 188:

There was a motor car behind them now and it blasted into the truck noise and the dust with its klaxon again and again; then flashed on lights that showed the dust like a solid yellow cloud and surged past them in a whining rise of gears and a demanding, threatening, bludgeoning of klaxoning.

1940 October 21, Ernest Hemingway, chapter 42, in For Whom the Bell Tolls, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner's Sons, →OCLC; republished London: Jonathan Cape, Thirty Bedford Square, 1949 (13th printing), →OCLC, page 386:

They could hear a lot more than they could see. But what they heard told them exactly nothing. There were the klaxons, which kept up their long, monotonous, insane growling protest all through the raid.

1962 September, James Jones, chapter 2, in The Thin Red Line, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner's Sons, →OCLC, page 73:

When the claxon sounded they immediately stopped what they were doing and uncovered the Oerlikon. Paddy, who was ammunition feeder, stood by while Jock trained the 20mm gun around.

2007, Thomas E. Lightburn, chapter 11, in The Shield and the Shark, Cambridge: Vanguard Press, →ISBN, page 173:

Irenka was up front using the lavatory when the lights in the cabin went red and the klaxon sounded over the speakers.

2010 November, Brad R. Torgersen, “Outbound”, in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, volume CXXX, number 11, Norwalk, Conn.: Dell Magazines, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 84; reprinted as “Outbound”, in Stanley Schmidt, editor, Into the New Millennium: Trailblazing Tales from Analog Science Fiction and Fact, 2000–2010, Norwalk, Conn.: Penny Publications, 2011, →ISBN, column 1:

A loud electric alarm or horn, especially as used in automobiles in the early 20th century.


klaxon

Borrowed from English klaxon. Genericized trademark.


saran

From a trade name coined by the Dow Chemical Co. for a number of monomers and polymers made from vinylidene chloride (especially polyvinylidene chloride).

A plastic resin used to make packaging films.


mullah

Derived from Classical Persian مُلَّا (mullā), from Arabic مَوْلًى (mawlan, “vicar, guardian”).

der

(India, religious slur, slang) A conservative Muslim leader or cleric, especially one who is hostile against other religions.

(India, religious slur, slang, by extension) A Muslim.


lye

head

lye (present tense lyar or lyer, past tense lya or lydde, past participle lya or lydd, present participle lyande)

lyar (present)
lyer (present)
lya (past)
lydde (past)
lya (participle past)
lydd (participle past)
lyande (participle present)


kola

kola (nominative singular)
kole (nominative plural)
koli (genitive singular)
kol (genitive plural)
koli (genitive plural)
koli (dative singular)
kolom (dative plural)
kolę (accusative singular)
kole (accusative plural)
kolą (instrumental singular)
kolami (instrumental plural)
koli (locative singular)
kolach (locative plural)
kolo (singular vocative)
kole (plural vocative)

Borrowed from English cola, from a Niger-Congo language. Sense 3 is a genericized trademark of Coca-Cola.


tuff

en-adj

tuff (comparative tuffer, superlative tuffest)

tuffer (comparative)
tuffest (superlative)

Tuff Stuff teaches that while life may go smoothly most of the time, ...

1980, Joy Wilt Berry, Ernie Hergenroeder, Tuff Stuff: A Children's Book about Trauma, Educational Products Division, Word, Inc., →ISBN:

… yet never to make us so strong as the strongest of Men, whose Sinnews are tuffer, and Bones stronger, and Joints closer, and Flesh firmer, than ours are …

2000, Margaret Cavendish, “Preface to the Reader (1655)”, in Sylvia Bowerbank, Sara Mendelson, editors, Paper Bodies, →ISBN, page 139:

It was rave reviewed in the Caribbean Times as 'the ruffest, tuffest and the boo-yacka of all modern gangster novels'.

2003, Ronald Carter, The Routledge Guide to Modern English Writing (Language Arts), Routledge, →ISBN, page 96:

TUFF METER

2006, Paige Hemmis, The Tuff Chix Guide to Easy Home Improvement, Penguin, →ISBN, page 36:

Its Tuff-n-Tiny USB flash drive is about the size of a thumbnail. … The company insists that the "tuff" part of the name is well-earned for being waterproof, dustproof and you can drive a car over it.

2010 January 20, Robert J. Elisberg, “CES 2020 -- Ohm on the Range”, in Huffington Post, retrieved 2012-09-14:

Tuff Stuff Professional Wrestling

2011, Kristian Pope, Tuff Stuff Professional Wrestling Field Guide: Legend and Lore, Krause Publications, →ISBN:


telex

en-verb

telex (third-person singular simple present telexes, present participle telexing, simple past and past participle telexed)

telexes (present singular third-person)
telexing (participle present)
telexed (participle past)
telexed (past)

From genericization of Telex Printergram and Telex, derived as a blend of tele- (“telegraph, teletype, teleprinter, etc.”) + exchange.

blend

(transitive) To send a message over a telex network.


sire

From Middle English sire, from Old French sire, the nominative singular of seignor; from Latin senior, from senex. Doublet of seigneur, seignior, senhor, senior, señor, senyor, signore, and sir. Cognate with French monsieur.

doublet

A lord, master, or other person in authority, most commonly used vocatively: formerly in speaking to elders and superiors, later only when addressing a sovereign.


sire

English: sir; sire

Scots: sir; sire

From Old French sire, nominative singular of seignor, from Latin senior. Doublet of senyour.

A respectful term of address for a noble or gentleman.


crusader

(Islam, politics, derogatory, Islamism, religious slur) A Westerner; a Christian, especially of European descent or a missionary.


champ

Etymology tree
Proto-Italic *kampos
Latin campusbor.
Proto-West Germanic *kamp
Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
Proto-Germanic *-janą
Proto-West Germanic *-jan
Proto-West Germanic *kampijan
Proto-Germanic *-jô
Proto-West Germanic *-jō
Frankish *kampijōbor.
Medieval Latin campiō
Old French champiunbor.
Middle English champioun
English champion
English champ
Clipping of champion／championship.

etymon

Whatcha doing, champ?

(informal) Buddy, sport, mate. (as a term of address)


soma

From Late Latin sauma, from alteration of Latin sagma, from Ancient Greek σάγμα (ságma). Compare the doublet salma (“corpse”). Cognate to French somme (“packsaddle”).

(by extension) the measure of the capacity of a given animal to bear a load


corona

en-noun

corona (plural coronas or coronae or (obsolete) coronæ)

coronas (plural)
coronae (plural)
coronæ (obsolete plural)

→ Japanese: コロナ (korona)

The noun is borrowed from Latin corōna (“crown; garland, wreath”), from Ancient Greek κορώνη (korṓnē, “type of crown; curved object (door handle, tip of a bow, stern of a ship, etc.)”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”). The English word is a doublet of crown, korona, koruna, krona, króna, and krone.
The plural form coronae is borrowed from Latin corōnae.
The verb is derived from the noun.

kruunu

appendage of an organism that resembles a crown or corona

Is it probable that this depression has arisen from the distorting effect of some form of head dress, similar perhaps to that which is still applied to the heads of infants in various parts of France, as described by Drs. Foville and Lunier? This consists of a neckerchief passed twice round the head from the corona either to the back of the neck, when the resulting deformity (which is that of the Charlcombe skull) is designated annular by Dr. Gosse; or is carried under the chin and jaw, when it is termed bilobed by the same writer.

1863 September, John Thurnam, “XXII.—On Synostosis of the Cranial Bones, Especially the Parietals, Regarded as a Race-character in One Class of Ancient British and in African Skulls”, in G[eorge] Busk et al., editors, The Natural History Review: A Quarterly Journal of Biological Science, number XVIII, London, Edinburgh: Williams and Norgate, […], published April 1865, →OCLC, page 265:

The ophthalmic division supplies sensation from the eyebrows to the coronal suture. The sensory innervation stops at the corona, not at the hairline, and this fact may help one to differentiate a true abnormality from a factitious one, since people who are “faking” sensory loss more often lose sensation at the hairline.

2013, Eric S. Hsu, Charles Argoff, Katherine E. Galluzzi, Raphael J. Leo, Andrew Dubin, “Head Pain: Trigeminal Neuralgia”, in Problem-Based Pain Management, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, section 2 (Head Pain), page 27:

(anatomy) An upper or crownlike portion of certain parts of the body.

A region of the skull located along the coronal suture, at the junction between the frontal bone and the two parietal bones.

päälaki

An appearance of a corona may produce useful or undesirable effects. For instance, a corona arising spontaneously around high-voltage wires of an electrical power transmission line results in a loss of electrical energy. On the other hand, coronas are widely used in many practical applications like dust collection with electrical precipitators, atmospheric pressure non-thermal plasma surface treatment of polymers, cleaning of exhausted gases, etc.

2004, U[lrich] Kogelschatz, Yu S. Akishev, A. P. Napartovich, “History of Non-equilibrium Air Discharges”, in K. H. Becker, U[lrich] Kogelschatz, K. H. Schoenbach, R. J. Barker, editors, Non-equilibrium Air Plasmas at Atmospheric Pressure (Institute of Physics Series in Plasma Physics), Bristol, Philadelphia, Pa.: Institute of Physics Publishing, →ISBN, page 42:

(electricity) A luminous appearance caused by corona discharge, often seen as a bluish glow in the air adjacent to pointed metal conductors carrying high voltages.