redneck
English edit
Etymology edit
Compound of red + neck. Compare rooinek. The term originally characterized farmers that had a red neck, caused by sunburn from long hours working in the fields.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
redneck (plural rednecks)
- (slang, usually derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) A poor, rural, usually white, person from the Southern United States or parts of the Midwest and Northeast, especially one whose beliefs are seen as unsophisticated and backward; sometimes with additional connotations of being bigoted.
- 1989, “Fight the Power”, in Fear of a Black Planet, performed by Public Enemy:
- Sample a look back you look and find / Nothing but rednecks for 400 years if you check
- (historical, slang, US) Any of the miners who wore red bandanas for identification during the West Virginia mine war of 1921.[1]
- (historical, slang, US) A member of a certain Baltimore street gang, active in 1859.[2]
- (UK, archaic, 19th and 20th centuries, religious slur) A Roman Catholic.[3]
Synonyms edit
- bogan (Australia), cracker, hick, hillbilly, peckerwood, white trash
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
uneducated, unsophisticated person
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References edit
- ^ “West Virginia Division of Culture and History”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)[1], 2008 March 30 (last accessed), archived from the original on 4 June 2013
- ^ The New York Times (New York, New York), 3 November 1859, Thu • Page 4
- ^ The Raleigh Register, (Raleigh, North Carolina), 19 March 1841, Fri • Page 2