honky

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Sense of “factory hand” attested from 1946. Compare hunky, bohunk.

Most likely from hunky (“Hungarian, Slav, eastern European; any white person”), an African-American vernacular shortening of Hungarian.[1] Another possible etymon is Wolof xonq (“red, pink”), a term frequently used in African languages to describe white men.[2]

As a term of racial abuse it was popularized by the Black Panther Party starting from 1967, who sought a rebuttal to nigger.

Pronunciation
  • Rhymes: -ɒŋki

Noun

honky (plural honkies)

  1. (US, Canada, derogatory, ethnic slur) A white (Caucasian) person.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:white person
    • For quotations using this term, see Citations:honky.
  2. (US, obsolete) A factory hand or general unskilled worker.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

References
  1. Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “honky”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  2. http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/756/whats-the-origin-of-honky
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