squaw

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   dated and offensive: a Native American woman or wife

   The historical account uses squaw for a Native American woman, a term now widely regarded as offensive.

Borrowed in colonial New England from Massachusett squa, 'woman,' cognate with words for 'woman' in other Algonquian languages. English use later accumulated demeaning stereotypes, and the term is now widely considered offensive when applied to a Native American woman.

Topics