coon
pronunciation
How to pronounce coon in British English:
UK [ku:n]
How to pronounce coon in American English:
US [kun]
-
- Noun:
- an eccentric or undignified rustic
- (ethnic slur) offensive name for a Black person
- North American raccoon
Word Origin
- coon (n.)
- short for raccoon, 1742, American English. It was the nickname of Whig Party members in U.S. c. 1848-60, as the raccoon was the party's symbol, and it also had associations with frontiersmen (who stereotypically wore raccoon-skin caps), which probably ultimately was the source of the Whig Party sense (the party's 1840 campaign was built on a false image of wealthy William Henry Harrison as a rustic frontiersman). The insulting U.S. meaning "black person" was in use by 1837, said to be ultimately from Portuguese barracoos "building constructed to hold slaves for sale." No doubt boosted by the enormously popular blackface minstrel act "Zip Coon" (George Washington Dixon) which debuted in New York City in 1834. But it is perhaps older (one of the lead characters in the 1767 colonial comic opera "The Disappointment" is a black man named Raccoon). Coon's age is 1843, American English, probably an alteration of British a crow's age.
Example
- 1. The chinese company 's main initial attraction will be price , mr. coon says .
- 2. She goes on coon hunts , which she 's described to me as romantic adventures with the baying of hounds in the cool of the night .
- 3. " We knew what we included would help drive teacher behaviors , so we wanted to make sure the right stuff was in there , " says sarah coon , af 's senior director of talent development .