English

Alternative forms

• gwailo
• kwailo

Noun

gweilo ‎(plural gweilos or gweilo)

1. (colloquial, ethnic slur) A white person in China, (chiefly) of men; a ‘foreign devil’.
   • 1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society 2010, p. 179:

     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.

Usage notes

Some expatriates in Hong Kong now use gweilo to jokingly refer to themselves.

Related terms

• laowai