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buckra

buckra

1 9.9
A white person from Europe who has power in Caribbean colonies
  • noun
  • Slur
: [término ofensivo para persona blanca]
  • During the colonial period, many Buckra individuals held positions of significant authority over the local population.

Examples

  • The stories often depicted Buckra figures as wealthy and powerful, lording over the lands of the Caribbean.

  • Even talk like the buckra soldier.

  • Oona march like the buckra soldier.

  • We needed money, so I hired out to a wealthy family, some big, supposed to be, muckety-mucks, off Edisto Island, high-falutin' buckra.

  • The Buckra plantation owner demanded long hours of labor from his workers while living in luxury.

Antonyms

2 3.9

A person who is not white

Surface Forms

buckra singular
buckras plural

Etymology

Buckra likely comes from an old word for 'white', such as the Portuguese branco, or from an African word mbakara meaning 'master'. So in Caribbean English buckra came to mean a 'white person', often someone with power or who owned a plantation.