golliwog
pronunciation
How to pronounce golliwog in British English:
UK [ˈgɒliwɒg]
How to pronounce golliwog in American English:
US [ˈgɑliwɑg]
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- Noun:
- a grotesque black doll
Word Origin
- golliwog
- golliwog: [19] It was Florence Upton (1873– 1922), an American-born illustrator and writer of children’s books, who dreamed up the blackfaced male doll we now know as the golliwog. It first appeared in the story The Adventures of Two Dutch Dolls – and a ‘Golliwog’ 1895, with verses by Florence’s mother Bertha. The inspiration for the word may have been golly [19], a euphemism for God, and polliwog, an American term for a ‘tadpole’ (which came from Middle English polwygle, a compound of pol ‘head’ and the verb wiglen ‘wiggle’). The offensive wog [20] for ‘black person’ is probably short for golliwog.
- golliwog (n.)
- type of grotesque blackface doll, 1895, coined by English children's book author and illustrator Florence K. Upton (1873-1922), perhaps from golly + polliwog.