''Spic'' (or spick) is an
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 ...
used in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
to describe
Hispanic and Latino Americans
Hispanic and Latino Americans are Americans who have a Spaniards, Spanish or Latin Americans, Latin American background, culture, or family origin. This demographic group includes all Americans who identify as Hispanic or Latino (demonym), ...
or
Spanish-speaking people from
Latin America
Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
.
Etymology and history
Some sources from the United States believe that the word ''spic'' is a play on a Spanish-accented pronunciation of the English word ''speak''.
[ Interactive Dictionary of Language. Accessed April 12, 2007.][ ]The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'' (''AHD'') is a dictionary of American English published by HarperCollins. It is currently in its fifth edition (since 2011).
Before HarperCollins acquired certain business lines from H ...
. Accessed April 12, 2007.[Santiago, Esmeralda. When I Was Puerto Rican. New York: Vintage Books, 1993.] The ''
Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...
'' takes ''spic'' to be a contraction of the earlier form ''spiggoty''. The oldest known use of ''spiggoty'' is in 1910 by Wilbur Lawton in ''Boy Aviators in Nicaragua, or, In League with the Insurgents''. Stuart Berg Flexner, in ''I Hear America Talking'' (1976), favored the explanation that it derives from a mispronunciation by Spanish speakers of the phrase "I do not speak English," rendered as "no spik Ingles" or "no spika de Ingles."
[Take Our Word for It](_blank)
June 21, 1999, Issue 45 of etymology webzine.
However, in an earlier publication, the 1960 ''Dictionary of American Slang'', written by Dr. Harold Wentworth, with Flexner as second author, ''spic'' is first identified as a noun for an
Italian or "
American of Italian ancestry", along with the words ''spic'', ''spig'', and ''spiggoty'', and confirms that it is shortened from the word ''
spaghetti
Spaghetti () is a long, thin, solid, cylindrical pasta.[spaghetti](_blank)
Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Una ...
''. The authors refer to the word's usage in James M. Cain's ''Mildred Pierce'', referring to a "wop or spig", and say that this term was never preferred over ''
wop'', and has been rarely used since 1915. However, the etymology remains.
[Wentworth, Harold, and Flexner, Stuart Berg. The Dictionary of American Slang. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1960, pp. 507.]
See also
*
Anti-Hispanic sentiment in the United States
*
Spic and Span
References
External links
{{Ethnic slurs
Ethnic and religious slurs
Hispanic and Latino American society
Italian-American history
Anti-Hispanic and Latin American sentiment
English profanity