coconut
nounUK /ˈkəʊ.kə.nʌt/ · CA, US /ˈkoʊ.kəˌnʌt/
Etymology From coco + nut. In reference to assimilated Hispanic or black people, derived from the fruit's exotic origins. The slur originates from the idea that one is "brown on the outside, white on the inside". In reference to Polynesians, from the ubiquity of coconut palms in the area.
11 senses
- 1A fruit of the coconut palm (not a true nut), Cocos…
- 2A hard-shelled seed of this fruit, having white flesh…
- 3The edible white flesh of this fruit.
- 4The coconut palm.
- 5A Hispanic or other dark-skinned person considered to…
- 6A black person considered to have overly assimilated to…
- 7A Malay person who cannot speak Malay.
- 8An Indian person who cannot speak Tamil.
- 9A Pacific islander.
- 10A female breast.
- 11The human head.
A fruit of the coconut palm (not a true nut), Cocos nucifera, having a fibrous husk surrounding a large seed.
- The Coco-nut Trees grow by the Sea, on the Weſtern ſide in great Groves, 3 or 4 Miles in length, and a Mile or two broad. This tree is in ſhape like the Cabbage-tree, and at a diſtance they are not to be known each from other, only the Coco-nut Tree is fuller of Branches ; but the Cabbage-tree generally is much higher, tho' the Coco-nut Trees in ſome places are very high.1699, William Dampier, chapter X, in A New Voyage Round the World. […], 4th corrected edition, volume I, London: Printed for James Knapton, […], →OCLC, page 291:
A hard-shelled seed of this fruit, having white flesh and a fluid-filled central cavity.
The edible white flesh of this fruit.
The coconut palm.
› A member of any of various dark-skinned…
US, Derogatory, Ethnic, Slur A Hispanic or other dark-skinned person considered to have overly assimilated to white culture.
- After that I was regarded as comic. I became a ‘coconut’—someone brown on the outside, white on the inside. I was the bleached academic—more white than the anglo professors. In my classes several students glared at me, clearly seeing in me the person they feared ever becoming. Who was I, after all, but some comic Queequeg, holding close to my breast a reliquary containing the white powder of a dead European civilization?1982, Richard Rodriguez, “Profession”, in Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez, Boston: David R. Godine, Publisher, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 162:
Australia, Kenya, South Africa, Derogatory, Ethnic, Slur A black person considered to have overly assimilated to white culture, a black race traitor.
- Their convictions challenged those critics who dismissed John Githongo’s anti-corruption efforts as the naïve projection of inappropriate ‘mzungu’ values onto an African nation where they were doomed to fail. If John was a ‘coconut’, he certainly wasn’t the only coconut in Kenya.2009, Michela Wrong, It’s Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle Blower:
- Your mum is a white whore, you coconut.2016 June 8, “Containment”, in Cleverman, episode 2, spoken by Waruu West [speaking to half-brother Koen West]:
Singapore, Derogatory, Ethnic, Slur A Malay person who cannot speak Malay.
Malaysia, Derogatory, Ethnic, Slur An Indian person who cannot speak Tamil.
Self-deprecatory
New Zealand, Derogatory, Ethnic, Slur A Pacific islander.
Slang A female breast.
- He compliments her erect posture and says her breasts look like big clusters of grapes hanging off a palm tree. You would expect him to say merely that he likes her big coconuts.2005, Clint Caviness, “The Power of the Sugar Tongue”, in When Risqué is Okay: Biblical principles your parents never taught you for a happy marriage behind the bedroom door (Religion), Winston, Oregon: Hearts for Home Publications, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 220:
Slang The human head.
- [Ashley J. Williams shoots a zombified version of the Winter Soldier in the head.] Dazzler: Oh my God...thank you! I-i-is he-- Ashley J. Williams: A double-barrel boomstick blast straight through the coconut? Trust me, babe--he's not comin' back from that one.2007, Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness, 2, page 19:
- 'How unfortunate.' 'Yes. It's rather causing him to go off his coconut. He's met a girl, you see. A peach.'2021, Dennis Glover, The Last Man in Europe:
- Derived terms
87 terms
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- fruit, race traitor