squaw man
- noun
- /skwɔː mæn/
- Slur
:
[Término ofensivo para hombre blanco casado con una mujer indígena]
- That renegade creole squaw-man?
Examples
-
I'm a squaw man myself.
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The army calls him "squaw man."
Fiction book (1991) -
John is often referred to as a squaw man because he is married to a Cherokee woman.
-
In the community, he is known as a squaw man due to his support for Native American rights.
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When discussing traditional roles, people sometimes mention the term squaw man to describe a white man married to a Native American.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is compositionally built from 'squaw' (an offensive term for a Native American woman) + 'man' (an adult male), so a learner who knows both words can infer it refers to a man associated with or married to a Native American woman. The phrase is dated and offensive and contains socio-historical nuance (often specifically denoting a white man) that learners would not deduce from the words alone, but the basic referential meaning is transparently derived from the constituents.
Etymology
The noun squaw man may come from older English where settlers used squaw for a Native American woman, and adding man named a white man married to such a woman. Because this links a person to another's identity in a disrespectful way, the phrase is now considered highly offensive and outdated.
