Blackfellow
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: en, /ˈblakfɛləʊ/
Alternative forms
Full definition of blackfellow
Noun
blackfellow
(plural blackfellows)- (Australia, now usually considered offensive) A (male) Australian Aborigine. from 19th c.
- 1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber & Faber 2003, p. 40:He was squatting on the ground like a blackfellow, quiet and still and cunning.
- 2000, Daryl Tonkin, Carolyn Landon, Jackson's Track: Memoir of a Dreamtime Place, %22blackfellas%22+-intitle:%22blackfella|blackfellas%22+-inauthor:%22blackfella%22&dq=%22blackfella%22|%22blackfellas%22+-intitle:%22blackfella|blackfellas%22+-inauthor:%22blackfella%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=usLxTv7yJqfMmAXA-dysAg&redir_esc=y page 256,It was as if the blackfellas were their property, and the Board could do with them as they saw fit.
- 2002, James Roberts, At the Bar, in Rebekah Clarkson (editor), Forked Tongues: A Delicious Anthology of Poetry and Prose, %22blackfellas%22+-intitle:%22blackfella|blackfellas%22+-inauthor:%22blackfella%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=usLxTv7yJqfMmAXA-dysAg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22blackfella%22|%22blackfellas%22%20-intitle%3A%22blackfella|blackfellas%22%20-inauthor%3A%22blackfella%22&f=false page 29,A blackfella and a whitefella are sitting at the bar. The whitefella says to the blackfella eh boss, whadya reckon?The blackfella says since you ask, I consider it a metaphor of the historic case of the Coorong massacre of 1840.
Usage notes
The word has been reclaimed to some extent by aborigines to describe themselves, but its use by other groups is now usually considered racially offensive.