white kaffir, noun phrase

Origin:
EnglishShow more General English white of light skin colour, of European descent + kaffir noun sense 2 b.
offensive
1. A derogatory and racist term for a white person who is perceived as ill-bred, or for one who has become assimilated into a black community, or who associates with black people. Also attributive.
1846 Natal Witness 31 JulyOne of the white caffers have [sic] been taken into custody on suspicion.
1870 C. Hamilton Life & Sport in S.-E. Afr. 264In my opinion the Dutch Boer is little else than a White Kaffir.
1897 J.P. Fitzpatrick Outspan 27You can’t imagine — my surprise when I found that my naked white Kaffir sailor-friend, Sebougwaan, was the man of the hour.
1903 E.F. Knight S. Afr. after War 154They dub the British who adopt the local custom ‘white Kaffirs’.
1908 D. Blackburn Leaven 38‘He educated a kafir girl and married her. That’s the result.’ Betts indicated the huts...‘He’s a white kafir now, with plenty of time on his hands for educating his nigger family.’
1926 S.G. Millin S. Africans 209 (Swart)In the old days men, thrusting their ancestry, their traditions..completely behind them, became what people sometimes call in South Africa ‘white Kaffirs’.
1949 C. Bullock Rina 91Sailors who were shipwrecked or had deserted from their ships had sometimes sought refuge in African kraals and become ‘white kaffirs’.
1955 W. Illsley Wagon on Fire 88If he appeared familiar and friendly with the Africans, the white people dubbed him a white kaffir, a destroyer of white prestige, and ostracized him from their social life.
1974 D. Rooke Margaretha de la Porte 212‘You white kaffir’, I said in his ear. ‘I’m sure you are the one who gave her too much to drink.’
1976 S. Cloete Chetoko 150Trelawney’s his name..and he’s a white Kaffir...He’s gone native.
1990 New African 18 June 7About 10 white rightwing men..yelled out ‘white kaffir’ to white members of the march.
2. A racist term for an African albino.
1934 C.P. Swart Supplement to Pettman. 191White Kaffir, An albino.
1966 L.G. Berger Where’s Madam 164He and his charwoman wife had between them bred three ‘white Kaffirs’ — albino natives with white hair, pink eyes, white freckled skin, yet unmistakable native features.
1974 Informant, Grahamstown (now Makhanda, Eastern Cape)Look at that — a white kaffir — an albino.
1980 C. Hope A Separate Development (1983) 93Lets just say I’m some kind of kaffir, and leave it at that...Skin’s the problem. Say a white kaffir, then.
A derogatory and racist term for a white person who is perceived as ill-bred, or for one who has become assimilated into a black community, or who associates with black people. Also attributive.
A racist term for an African albino.
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18461990