''Gweilo'' or (, pronounced ) is a common Cantonese slang term for

Westerners The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to various nations and states in Western Europe, Northern America, and Australasia; with some debate as to whether those in Eastern Europe and Latin America also constitute the West. ...

. The term can be literally translated as "ghost man" and has a history of racially deprecatory and pejorative use, though its modern usage is often in a general and non-derogatory context. The appropriateness of the term and whether it constitutes as an offensive

ethnic slur The following is a list of ethnic slurs, ethnophaulisms, or ethnic epithets that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about members of a given ethnic, national, or racial group or to refer to them in a derogatory, pej ...

are disputed among both Cantonese speakers and Westerners.

Etymology and history

''Gwái'' (, ''gui'' in Mandarin) means "ghost" or "devil", and ''lóu'' () means "man" or "guy". The literal translation of ''gwáilóu'' would thus be "ghost man" or "devil man". It is sometimes translated into English as "foreign devil". In many

Sinitic languages The Sinitic languages (), often synonymous with the Chinese languages, are a language group, group of East Asian analytic languages that constitute a major branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. It is frequently proposed that there is a p ...

, "鬼" gwai and its local equivalents can be a derogatory term used as a curse or an insult. The term ''鬼'' gwai has also been used to describe other ethnic groups, for example, a 17th-century writer from

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative divisions * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and entertainment * Canton (band), an It ...

, , wrote that Africans "look like ghosts", and ''gwáinòuh'' () was once used to describe African slaves.

Usage

The term ''gwái'' () is an adjective that can be used to express hate and deprecation, an example being the locals' expression of their hatred towards the Japanese during their occupation of Hong Kong in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

with the same ''gwái''. It conveys a general bad and negative feeling but is a somewhat obsolete and archaic/old-fashioned term nowadays and other more modern terms have largely replaced ''gwái'' for similarly negative meanings. Cantonese people sometimes call each other ''sēui gwái'' (), which means ''bad person'', though more often than not it is applied affectionately, similar to " Hey, bitch!" in English when used affectionately. Nowadays, Cantonese speakers often refer to non-Chinese people by their ethnicity. ''Gwáilóu'' is often considered to be an acceptable generic racial term for Westerners. Also, some members of the Hong Kong community with European ancestry (particularly those with limited or zero Cantonese fluency) are indifferent to the term, and those who believe that the best way to defang a word intended as a "slur" is to embrace it, and use gweilo to refer to non-Chinese in Hong Kong. ''Gwailóu'' has, in some instances, been recognised as simply referring to white foreigners in South East Asia and now appears on

Oxford Dictionaries Oxford dictionary may refer to any dictionary published by Oxford University Press, particularly: Historical dictionaries * ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') * ''Shorter Oxford English Dictionary'', an abridgement of the ''OED'' Single-volu ...

defined as such, although non-white foreigners are not ''gwáilóu''. While ''gwáilóu'' is used by some Cantonese speakers in informal speech, another alternative term the sound of which has several meanings ''sāi yàhn'' () is now used as well, particularly if the conversation involves a non-Chinese person. Homonyms - ie words that sound the same or almost the same depending on the tone - to "sai yan" include references to female genitalia or boasting so "sai yan" is not necessarily a polite alternative to "gwai lou". A neutral alternative would be ‘foreign person’, pronounced "ngoi gwok yan".

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, Canada had a cooking show named ''Gwai Lo Cooking'' (1999) hosted by a Cantonese-speaking European chef, who was also the show's producer and the person who named the show. According to CFMT-TV, ''"Gwei Lo"'' was used as "a self-deprecating term of endearment". In response to some complaints, the

Canadian Broadcast Standards Council The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) is an industry funded self-regulating organization created by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters to administer standards established by its own members, Canada's private broadcasters. The co ...

ruled that:

Related terms

''Gwai'' is one of a number of terms to referring to non-Chinese people that can be considered controversial and potentially offensive; a list of such terms is given below: * ''gwaijai'' (; ) for a white boy. * ''gwaimui'' (; ) for a white girl. * ''gwaipo'' (; ) for white woman. * ''baakgwai'' (; ) for white people. * ''haakgwai'' (; ) for

black people Black is a racial classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and often additional phenotypical ...

. * ''sai yan'' (; ) for Westerners. * ''yeung yan'' (; ) for Westerners. * ''ngoigwok yan'' (; ) for

foreign national A foreign national is any person (including an organization) who is not a national of a specific country. ("The term 'person' means an individual or an organization.") For example, in the United States and in its territories, a foreign nationa ...

s. * ''acha'' (; ; from "acchā" meaning "good" in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

) for

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

ns. This term is considered offensive to South Asians local to Hong Kong, e.g., Hong Kong locals of Indian and/or Pakistani descent, and is not widely used. * ''molocha'' (; ) for

ns.

Mandarin Chinese

Guizi ''Guizi'' ( zh, c=鬼子, p=guǐzi, l=devil) is a pejorative Chinese slang term referring to foreigners, with a history of xenophobic connotations. History Starting with the arrival of European sailors in the sixteenth century, foreigners we ...

'' (; ) is a

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

slang term for foreigners, and has a long history of being used as a racially deprecating insult. * ''Riben guizi'' (; ) or ''dongyang guizi'' (; ) – used to refer to

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

. * ''Er guizi'' (; ) – used to refer to the

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

soldiers who were a part of the Japanese army during the Sino-Japanese War in World War II.第一滴血──從日方史料還原平型關之戰日軍損失 (6)
.

People's Daily The ''People's Daily'' ( zh, s=人民日报, p=Rénmín Rìbào) is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP in multiple lan ...

. 16 December 2011 * ''Yang guizi'' (; ) or ''xiyang guizi'' (; ) – used to refer to

. However, ''xiaogui'' (; ) is a common term in Mandarin Chinese for a child. Therefore, some argue that ''gui'' () in Mandarin is just a neutral word that describes something unexpected or hard to predict. ''

Laowai ''Laowai'' is the Pinyin pronunciation/transliteration of (pinyin: ''lǎowài'', lit. "old foreign"), an informal term or slang for "foreigner" and/or non-Chinese national, usually neutral but possibly impolite or loose in some circumstance ...

'' (; ) is the word most commonly used for foreigners and is a less pejorative term than ''guizi''. Although ''laowai'' literally means "old foreigner", depending on context, "old" can be both a term of endearment and one of criticism.

References

External links

* * * - Opinion {{Ethnic slurs Anti-Western sentiment Boxer Rebellion Chinese slang Cantonese words and phrases Culture of Hong Kong Pejorative terms for European people Racism in China Xenophobia in Asia Discrimination in Hong Kong