Honky

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -É’Å‹ki

Alternative forms

• honkey, honkie

Origin

Sense of “factory hand” attested from 1946. Compare hunky, bohunk.

Term of racial abuse attested 1967, most likely from hunky, an African-American vernacular shortening of Hungarian.

Full definition of honky

Noun

1. (North America, pejorative, racial slur) A Caucasian person.
2. (US, obsolete) A factory hand or general unskilled worker.

Synonyms

• (Caucasian) whitey, cracker, wonderbread

Related terms

• hunky, hunkey