gweilo
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Cantonese 鬼佬 (gwai2 lou2), from 鬼 (gwai2, “ghost”) + 佬 (lou2, “guy, man”).
Noun
gweilo (plural gweilos or gweilo)
- (colloquial, ethnic slur) A white person in China, (particularly) a man; a ‘foreign devil’.
- 1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society, published 2010, page 179:
- She had ruffled the bed and laid a frilly nightdress on the floor because so far as the block was concerned Phoebe was the half-kwailo bastard who whored with the fat foreign devil.
Usage notes
Some expatriates in Hong Kong now use gweilo to jokingly refer to themselves.