ENGLISH DICTIONARY

Coon

/kun/ · noun

Meaning

(slang, derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) A black person..

Definitions by Sense

(slang, derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) A black person.
(informal, chiefly Southern US) A raccoon.
(slang, derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) A black race traitor.
(informal, South Africa) A member of a colorfully dressed dance troupe in Cape Town during New Year celebrations.
(Southern US, ethnic slur) A coonass; a white Acadian French person who lives in the swamps.
(US, dated) A sly fellow.
(African-American Vernacular) A black person who "plays the coon"; that is, who plays the dated stereotype of a black fool for an audience, particularly including Caucasians.
(Southern US, colloquial) To hunt raccoons.

Example Sentences

And that one looks Jewish, and that one's a coon! Who let all this riff-raff into the room?

1865, Henry David Thoreau, Cape Cod, Chapter IX. "The Sea and the Desert", page 187. He also said that minks, muskrats, foxes, coons, and wild mice were found there, but no squirrels.

How about a glen bong for you and your 'coon?

‘Listen, Mr Du Toit,’ he said at last, in an obvious effort to sound light-hearted. ‘Why go to all this trouble for the sake of a bloody coon?’

This is especially true when your audience has such high expectations of your playing the coon, and thus providing symbolic assurance that a darker people are contained in their assigned social "place" as "subpersons."

There is a little ledge low on the face of the cliff, and by this with careful “cooning” one may reach a recession in the rock which makes a lovely arm chair.

2 o'clock we float up to Duvall's landing—high bluff, store house, and a few dwelling houses. Here the fleet stops. Now for a canter through the woods, cooning logs, and waiding sloughs. Slosh across a small prairie.

“Advertising” was one problem for frontier women. Another was having to “coon” across a fallen tree that had been felled and limbed to bridge a canyon or gully.

Word Forms

coons
cooning
cooned

Synonyms for coon

Related Words

When Should You Use Coon?

Use coon when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

Practice This Word

Frequently Asked Questions

What does coon mean?

Coon means (slang, derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) A black person..

What is a synonym for coon?

Common synonyms include Oreo, Uncle Tom.

What is the opposite of coon?

The opposite depends on the specific sense.

How do you use coon in a sentence?

And that one looks Jewish, and that one's a coon! Who let all this riff-raff into the room?

Sources & Attribution

FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0

Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.

ENGLISH DICTIONARY

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Definitions by Sense

(slang, derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) A black person.

(informal, chiefly Southern US) A raccoon.

(slang, derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) A black race traitor.

(informal, South Africa) A member of a colorfully dressed dance troupe in Cape Town during New Year celebrations.

(Southern US, ethnic slur) A coonass; a white Acadian French person who lives in the swamps.

(US, dated) A sly fellow.

(African-American Vernacular) A black person who "plays the coon"; that is, who plays the dated stereotype of a black fool for an audience, particularly including Caucasians.

(Southern US, colloquial) To hunt raccoons.

Example Sentences

And that one looks Jewish, and that one's a coon! Who let all this riff-raff into the room?

1865, Henry David Thoreau, Cape Cod, Chapter IX. "The Sea and the Desert", page 187. He also said that minks, muskrats, foxes, coons, and wild mice were found there, but no squirrels.

How about a glen bong for you and your 'coon?

‘Listen, Mr Du Toit,’ he said at last, in an obvious effort to sound light-hearted. ‘Why go to all this trouble for the sake of a bloody coon?’

This is especially true when your audience has such high expectations of your playing the coon, and thus providing symbolic assurance that a darker people are contained in their assigned social "place" as "subpersons."

There is a little ledge low on the face of the cliff, and by this with careful “cooning” one may reach a recession in the rock which makes a lovely arm chair.

2 o'clock we float up to Duvall's landing—high bluff, store house, and a few dwelling houses. Here the fleet stops. Now for a canter through the woods, cooning logs, and waiding sloughs. Slosh across a small prairie.

“Advertising” was one problem for frontier women. Another was having to “coon” across a fallen tree that had been felled and limbed to bridge a canyon or gully.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does coon mean?

Coon means (slang, derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) A black person..

What is a synonym for coon?

Common synonyms include Oreo, Uncle Tom.

What is the opposite of coon?

The opposite depends on the specific sense.

How do you use coon in a sentence?

And that one looks Jewish, and that one's a coon! Who let all this riff-raff into the room?

Sources & Attribution

FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0

Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.