redskin

[ red-skin ]

nounOlder Slang: Disparaging and Offensive.
  1. a contemptuous term used to refer to a North American Indian.

Origin of redskin

1
?1760–70; red1 + skin; probably loan translation of French peau rouge, itself translated from an American Indian term

usage note For redskin

The date and origin of this term is in dispute. Evidence seems to show that in the 1760s, French colonists in the Mississippi Valley translated a Native American spoken term into the French language as peau rouge , which was then translated into English as redskin. Through the early part of the 19th century, American Indians continued to use their Native word self-referentially, and it was translated into spoken and written English as redskin with no derogatory connotations, even as a term of respect. However, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, within the historical context of white-Indian hostilities, use of the term redskin was associated with attitudes of contempt and condescension. By the 1960s, redskin had declined in use and is now understood to be offensive.

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How to use redskin in a sentence

  • Rochford, who made no answer, probably considered the judge prejudiced against the Redskins.

    In the Wilds of Florida | W.H.G. Kingston
  • I have little doubt about your finding the food you require; but I am not quite satisfied that you will escape the Redskins.

    In the Wilds of Florida | W.H.G. Kingston
  • Kieft now tried to make friends with the redskins, and appointed a meeting with their chiefs on Long Island.

    The Story of the Thirteen Colonies | H. A. (Hlne Adeline) Guerber
  • They will keep and defend them, and protect all the white and redskins who live thereon.

  • In the river they'd be helpless under enemy arrows and bullets, just like the redskins who had tried earlier to swim away.

    Shaman | Robert Shea

British Dictionary definitions for redskin

redskin

/ (ˈrɛdˌskɪn) /


noun
  1. an old-fashioned informal name, now considered taboo, for a Native American

Origin of redskin

1
C17: so called because one particular tribe, the now extinct Beothuks of Newfoundland, painted themselves with red ochre

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012