Asiatic

adj, noun — 4 senses

Asiatic

adj

/eɪʒiˈætɪk/ · /eɪʃiˈætɪk/

Etymology Learned borrowing from Latin āsiāticus; equivalent to Asia + -atic.

1

Dated Asian, specifically, relating to the parts of Asia east of Egypt, i.e the Middle East or West Asia.

2

Government, Military, Politics, War Slang Eccentric or crazy as a result of spending a long time in the Far East.

  • 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:
  • “[…] This ship has been in the forward area since March ’42. It’s been through a lot of action. The men are all Asiatic. They probably think a fantail watch in Pearl Harbor is foolishness. […]”1951, Herman Wouk, The Caine Mutiny, page 82:
4 more examples
  • The note was good-humored and Willie swiftly decided not to take offense. “No thanks. I don’t want any medals for extraordinary heroism.” [¶] “Old man is really Asiatic, sir, ain’t he?” said Meatball, stepping into his trousers.1951, Herman Wouk, The Caine Mutiny, page 305:
  • Now how the hell, we asked ourselves, does a guy this old get from a navy ammo dump to command of a battleship? Not just any battleship but the flagship of the Battle Force! Had the brass hats at the Bureau of Navigation gone Asiatic?1982, Theodore C. Mason, Battleship Sailor, page 129:
  • This was a place that if you stayed there for any length of time, you went “Asiatic”. That was the expression for someone who went cuckoo. We had a long brutally boring patrol duty there, until we left for the island of Tarawa […]2004, Sol Weisbrot, Looking Back On My Life, page 50:
  • Enlisted men sometimes went Asiatic, or “rock happy,” after long service in the islands. This was common knowledge on the scuttlebutt network.2006, Robert Hood, Mama's Boy, page 155:
Derived terms
Afroasiatic, Asiatically, Asiatic beetle, Asiatic elephant, Asiatic golden cat, Asiaticism, Asiatic linsang, Asiaticness, Asiatic peafowl, Asiatic pennywort, Asiatic Sarmatia, Asiatic Vespers, Asiatic wildcat, Central Asiatic, pro-Asiatic

Asiatic

noun

Etymology Learned borrowing from Latin āsiāticus; equivalent to Asia + -atic.

1

Dated, Offensive, Sometimes An Asian.

  • […] the Aryan races will not wholesomely amalgamate with the Africans or the Asiatics […] the cross of those races, like the cross of the dog and the fox, is not successful; it cannot be, and never will be.1885, Sir John A. Macdonald, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
2

Egyptology, History, Human sciences, Sciences One of the people of ancient Canaan, Syria, or Mesopotamia; a Semite.

Synonyms
Asian

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.