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Glite Dictionary
wetback

wetback

14 9.9
An offensive word for a person from Mexico who entered the United States without permission
  • noun
  • /ˈwɛtˌbæk/
  • Slur
: mojado (insulto)
  • He's a wetback.
  • called them wetbacks
  • fucking wetbacks
  • term wetback

So they they aren't wetbacks, so they don't have to swim the river.

Examples

  • Though all three of us were second generation, we lived on Wetback Row and got along fine with everyone.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Jimmy has a kitchen full of wetbacks, most of them relatives.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • Well, I'm a wetback now.

    The Right Stuff (1983)

  • Our street was called "Wetback Row" by the second and third generation Chicanos.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • I've never been called a wetback and told to go back where I belong.

    Blog text (32)

  • Did he think that the wetbacks were all arriving of their own accord?

    Blog text (11)

  • She was a wetback.

    Blood Work (2002)

  • He was derogatorily referred to as a wetback by some of his neighbors due to his immigration status.

  • The documentary focused on the struggles faced by wetbacks who attempt to find work in the U.S.

  • During the discussion, she expressed her disdain for the term wetback and its racist implications.

Surface Forms

wetback singular
wetbacks plural

Morphology

wetback = wet + back (opaque) = wet + back

Although formed from the transparent words 'wet' + 'back', the established meaning is a derogatory ethnic slur linked to metaphorical crossing of water and is not directly derivable from the parts.

Etymology

Wetback comes from the idea of someone with a wet ('covered with water') back after crossing a river into the United States. It was used for Mexican people who entered the country this way and is now a deeply offensive slur, so it should not be used.