See zip coon in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "From an 1834 minstrel song titled \"Ole Zip Coon\" about a fictional Black man named Zip Coon. The song stereotypically portrays Zip Coon as unintelligent and incapable of assimilating into white American society.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "zip coons",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "zip coon (plural zip coons)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "American English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English ethnic slurs",
"parents": [
"Ethnic slurs",
"Offensive terms",
"Terms by usage"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "68 32",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "69 31",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "69 31",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1858, Big Bear's Adventures and Travels, page 98:",
"text": "Arter a while we got done—but it looked like I had bad luck for in sittin' down agin I lik'd to have sot on Barbry's tom cat, which if I had, I shoulder bin like Kurnel Zip Coon's wife who jump'd into a holler log to mash two young panters to deth, and they scratched her so bad she couldn t set down for two munse.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1883, The Century, volume 26, page 613:",
"text": "\"De gal w'at git ole Brer Jack 'ull git a natchul pacer, sho'. He move mo' one-sideder dan ole Zip Coon, w'ich he rack up de branch all night long wid he nose p'int lak he gwine 'cross.\"",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1886, Hiram H. McLane, The Capture of the Alamo: A Historical Tragedy, in Four Acts, with Prologue, page 85:",
"text": "I'm ther old eriginal zip-coon, And that uther coon er sottin' on er rail; And I'm that same old coon What allers war er coon, And that never got er lickin' till yet.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A Black man."
],
"id": "en-zip_coon-en-noun-78TMFBWZ",
"links": [
[
"derogatory",
"derogatory"
],
[
"ethnic",
"ethnic"
],
[
"slur",
"slur"
],
[
"Black",
"Black"
],
[
"man",
"man"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(US, obsolete, derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) A Black man."
],
"tags": [
"US",
"derogatory",
"ethnic",
"obsolete",
"offensive",
"slur"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "African-American Vernacular English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2006, Ronald L. Jackson II, Scripting the Black Masculine Body: Identity, Discourse, and Racial Politics in Popular Media, page 26:",
"text": "There were many names for the coon stock character. He has been referred to as the urban zip coon, dancing dandy, and, most notably, Sambo, the happy slave.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2009, Nick Tosches, Where Dead Voices Gather, page 2:",
"text": "Dixon's \"Zip Coon\" celebrated such a dandy in 1834, and the engraving on the cover of the sheet music portrayed a zip coon in just such a jacket.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2019, Elizabeth L. Sanderson, Spike Lee's Bamboozled and Blackface in American Culture, page 28:",
"text": "George Dixon first portrayed the zip coon in 1834.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A Black person who accepts an inferior social status to white people."
],
"id": "en-zip_coon-en-noun-0iHuR42f",
"links": [
[
"Black",
"Black"
],
[
"inferior",
"inferior"
],
[
"social status",
"social status"
]
],
"qualifier": "African-American Vernacular",
"raw_glosses": [
"(African-American Vernacular, dated) A Black person who accepts an inferior social status to white people."
],
"tags": [
"dated"
]
}
],
"word": "zip coon"
}
{
"categories": [
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English nouns",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries"
],
"etymology_text": "From an 1834 minstrel song titled \"Ole Zip Coon\" about a fictional Black man named Zip Coon. The song stereotypically portrays Zip Coon as unintelligent and incapable of assimilating into white American society.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "zip coons",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "zip coon (plural zip coons)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"American English",
"English derogatory terms",
"English ethnic slurs",
"English offensive terms",
"English terms with obsolete senses",
"English terms with quotations",
"Quotation templates to be cleaned"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1858, Big Bear's Adventures and Travels, page 98:",
"text": "Arter a while we got done—but it looked like I had bad luck for in sittin' down agin I lik'd to have sot on Barbry's tom cat, which if I had, I shoulder bin like Kurnel Zip Coon's wife who jump'd into a holler log to mash two young panters to deth, and they scratched her so bad she couldn t set down for two munse.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1883, The Century, volume 26, page 613:",
"text": "\"De gal w'at git ole Brer Jack 'ull git a natchul pacer, sho'. He move mo' one-sideder dan ole Zip Coon, w'ich he rack up de branch all night long wid he nose p'int lak he gwine 'cross.\"",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1886, Hiram H. McLane, The Capture of the Alamo: A Historical Tragedy, in Four Acts, with Prologue, page 85:",
"text": "I'm ther old eriginal zip-coon, And that uther coon er sottin' on er rail; And I'm that same old coon What allers war er coon, And that never got er lickin' till yet.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A Black man."
],
"links": [
[
"derogatory",
"derogatory"
],
[
"ethnic",
"ethnic"
],
[
"slur",
"slur"
],
[
"Black",
"Black"
],
[
"man",
"man"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(US, obsolete, derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) A Black man."
],
"tags": [
"US",
"derogatory",
"ethnic",
"obsolete",
"offensive",
"slur"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"African-American Vernacular English",
"English dated terms",
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "2006, Ronald L. Jackson II, Scripting the Black Masculine Body: Identity, Discourse, and Racial Politics in Popular Media, page 26:",
"text": "There were many names for the coon stock character. He has been referred to as the urban zip coon, dancing dandy, and, most notably, Sambo, the happy slave.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2009, Nick Tosches, Where Dead Voices Gather, page 2:",
"text": "Dixon's \"Zip Coon\" celebrated such a dandy in 1834, and the engraving on the cover of the sheet music portrayed a zip coon in just such a jacket.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2019, Elizabeth L. Sanderson, Spike Lee's Bamboozled and Blackface in American Culture, page 28:",
"text": "George Dixon first portrayed the zip coon in 1834.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A Black person who accepts an inferior social status to white people."
],
"links": [
[
"Black",
"Black"
],
[
"inferior",
"inferior"
],
[
"social status",
"social status"
]
],
"qualifier": "African-American Vernacular",
"raw_glosses": [
"(African-American Vernacular, dated) A Black person who accepts an inferior social status to white people."
],
"tags": [
"dated"
]
}
],
"word": "zip coon"
}
Download raw JSONL data for zip coon meaning in English (3.4kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-11-21 using wiktextract (95d2be1 and 64224ec). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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