Do you sometimes wonder what ethnic slang words are and what they mean? This article will explore different ethnic groups and some of their common slang words along with their definitions.
Let’s look at some definitions first. The definition of ethnic is “being a member of an ethnic group, esp. of a group that is a minority within a larger society.” So this could be any group that shares common culture, background, religion, or language.
Slang words are words that are outside of the regular, accepted language of the country. The words will be understood within a group and is one of the ways language evolves. Some slang expressions become widely used, and are soon a part of everyday language. Slang words can be a brand new word, a word with a different meaning, or an abbreviation.
To help explain ethnic slang words, let’s go over what slang is not. Slang is not jargon, advertising slogans, dialect, colloquialism, or catch phrases. It is also not graffiti or a special language made up and used by a secret group.
For the purpose of this article, we will look at Black slang, Mexican slang, and other common slang expressions.
Black slang is an informal way of speaking used mostly by African Americans. There are several sources online where you can find definitions of black slang words. One of them is: Ebonics Translator.com
Here are some examples of black slang from this and other dictionaries:
Mexicans are another ethnic group that has their own slang words and expressions. Here are some examples from Mexico Guru.com:
To finish this article on ethnic slang words, here are some common expressions in the United States from recent years. These are from Alpha Dictionary.com which has slang words from each decade. The following words and expressions are from 2000-2010: