gweilo en · NOUN
Etymology
From Cantonese 鬼佬 (gwai² lou²), from 鬼 (gwai², “ghost”) + 佬 (lou², “guy, man”).
Meanings
-
(colloquial, ethnic, slur) A white person in China, (particularly) a man; a ‘foreign devil’.
She had ruffled the bed and laid a frilly nightdress on the floor because so far as the block was concerned Phoebe was the half-kwailo bastard who whored with the fat foreign devil.
1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society, published 2010, page 179:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| gweilo | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| gweilos | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| gwailo | alternative | lexicographic | |
| kwailo | alternative | lexicographic |