Dictionary

Chinaboy en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈt͡ʃaɪnəbɔɪ/

Etymology

From China + boy; compare Chinaman (etymology).

Meanings

1. (ethnic, obsolete, offensive, slur) A boy who is Chinese; a (young) man from China or of Chinese descent.
   • In answer to their knock, a sleek, soft-footed China-boy, dressed in a blue indigo-hued blouse and with his pigtail down, appeared to admit them. 1898, Fergus Hume, chapter IV, in Hagar of the Pawn-Shop:
   • I speak from fifteen years' experience; five and thirty boys; American, Irish, English, German, African, Mulatto; not to speak of that China boy sent me by one who well knew my perplexities, from California; and that Lascar boy from Bombay. 1857, Herman Melville, chapter XXII, in The Confidence-Man, page 181:
2. (obsolete, offensive) A houseboy from China or of Chinese descent.
   • Lizzie, Alice and I were playing in the garden when our Chinaboy Bong came down the path—that is how I know exactly what time of evening it was that this new noise set me wondering, because Bong was very punctual. 1942, Emily Carr, “British Columbia Nightingale”, in The Book of Small, Toronto, Ont.: Oxford University Press, →OCLC:

Forms