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Glite Dictionary

spic

26 9.9
A rude, insulting word for a person from Spain or Latin America
  • noun
  • /spɪk/
  • Slur
: [insulto despectivo para hispanohablantes o personas de origen latinoamericano]
  • Kate Hardy writes sitting at this very spic-and-span desk (below), with her pup Byron on her monitor desktop for inspiration.
  • call spic
  • fuckin' spic
  • fucking spic

Examples

  • We hit the jackpot: two spic-and-span rooms in the huge-foyered apartment of Mrs. Fredericka James on 116th Street between Claremont Avenue and Riverside Drive.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • Plus it's a spic heart.

    Blood Work (2002)

  • I still have not learned to keep the home spic and span.

    Blog text (12)

  • I'm getting better, but I'm still far from spic and span.

    Blog text (13)

  • Make yourself spic-and-span, get all the mending out of the way, and then, and only then, sit down for a nice, quiet hour with the Good Book.

    The African Queen (1952)

  • He overheard someone call him a spic during the argument.

  • The derogatory term spic should never be used in conversation.

  • Using the word spic in a joke is deeply offensive.

Compounds

spic-and-span
3 4.9

Completely clean and tidy with no dust or dirt

Surface Forms

spic singular
spics plural

Etymology

Spic is an offensive slur for people who speak Spanish or who come from Latin America. A helpful way to remember its origin is that it probably came from older mocking sounds based on the word speak, as in the phrase 'no speak English', so the word is tied to language and became a hateful name for Spanish speakers.