honky

Etymology

The revised OED and Merriam-Webster take it as probably from English a variant of hunky,^[1][2] the American slang word for an immigrant from central or eastern Europe, and Dictionary.com also calls it perhaps an alteration of that word.^[3] That word is probably a shortened and altered form of Hungarian with the suffix -y,^[2][4] and the Shorter Oxford compares bohunk.^[5] Green's Dictionary of Slang traces the African American use to the white slang word, first applied to Poles who worked in the Chicago stockyards, and reports the idea that the change of vowel expressed the wish of the black militants of the 1960s to set themselves apart from white people.^[6] The American Heritage Dictionary suggests instead a possible blend of hunky with Wolof honq (“red, pink, light-skinned”).^[7] Etymonline, the Shorter Oxford, Chambers and the Oxford Dictionary of English call the origin unknown or uncertain,^[4][5][8][9] and Etymonline thinks a connection with honky-tonk also possible.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

An immigrant from central or eastern Europe, especially one doing manual work: 1904, in the Railroad Telegrapher.^[1]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, a central or eastern European immigrant labourer, was occasionally extended to any manual worker.^[1] Etymonline finds honky in blues slang for a factory hand by 1946,^[4] and Green's Dictionary of Slang lists the same 1946 quotation, from Mezzrow and Wolfe's Really the Blues, as its first for a white person.^[6] In the 1960s the word became, originally and chiefly in African American speech, a contemptuous name for a white person or for white people collectively, recorded in the OED from 1967;^[1][4] Merriam-Webster dates this use to 1958,^[2] and Dictionary.com to 1945–50.^[3] An adjective, white or typical of white people, followed in the same year,^[1] and Green's Dictionary of Slang records compounds such as honky-ass.^[6] The word also spread to Australian, British and South African English.^[6]

Timeline

• 1904 – an immigrant from central or eastern Europe, especially a manual labourer.^[1]
• 1946 – a factory hand, in blues slang.^[4] Green's Dictionary of Slang reads the same quotation as "a white person".^[6]
• 1967 – a white person; white people collectively.^[1][4] Merriam-Webster dates the word to 1958.^[2]
• 1967 – adjective, white; belonging to white people.^[1]

Meanings

Noun

1. (offensive slang) A contemptuous name for a white person; also, white people as a group: The graffiti on the wall said "honkies go home".^[7][2][1][6]
2. An immigrant from central or eastern Europe, especially a manual labourer.^[1]

Adjective

1. (offensive slang) White, or typical of white people and their way of life.^[1][6]

Related words

• hunky
• bohunk
• Hungarian

Usage notes

The word is offensive: Merriam-Webster calls it usually disparaging and offensive, and the American Heritage Dictionary marks it as offensive slang.^[2][7] It is also spelled honkie and, less often, honkey.^[2][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
7. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press