Dictionary

blackfellow en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈblakfɛləʊ/ (UK)
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *blakaz Proto-West Germanic *blak Old English blæc Middle English blak English black English fellow English blackfellow From black + fellow.

Meanings

1. (Australia, ethnic, qualifier:now usually considered offensive, slur) An Australian Aboriginal, especially a male one.
   • "Me like my country — no much too hot, no much too cold. By and bye, white fellow come — soldier-man come. White fellow say, this our land, that our land — ALL country our land. Black fellow say no! my country no white fellow's country, and black fellow take spear. 1842 February 16, The Inquirer, Perth, page 5, column 2:
   • Most police officers had no blackfella cultural background, no knowledge of Aboriginal priorities in life, yet they were the power in the town. 2007, Noel Olive, Enough is Enough: A History of the Pilbara Mob, page 212:
   • 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. 2002, James Roberts, “At the Bar”, in Rebekah Clarkson, editor, Forked Tongues: A Delicious Anthology of Poetry and Prose, page 29:
   • He was squatting on the ground like a blackfellow, quiet and still and cunning. 1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber & Faber, published 2003, page 40:
   • It was as if the blackfellas were their property, and the Board could do with them as they saw fit. 2000, Daryl Tonkin, Carolyn Landon, Jackson's Track: Memoir of a Dreamtime Place, page 256:

Forms

Coordinates

whitefellow