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ニグロ Japanese meaning | Kotomora

ニグロ

also: ネグロ

ニ

グ

ロ

Freq.FrequencyTop 100,000

Meanings

1

noun

Negro; Black person

sensitive

A dated and now generally considered offensive term for a Black person. In modern Japanese, 黒人 (こくじん) is the standard neutral term. This word may still appear in historical contexts or older texts.

See also: 黒人

この古ふるい本ほんでは「ニグロ」という言こと葉ばが使つかわれている。
This old book uses the word 'Negro'.
現げん代

Written forms

ニグロUsage71%
Katakana loanword from English 'Negro'. This is the standard Japanese spelling.
ネグロUsage29%
Alternate katakana spelling reflecting a different English pronunciation. Less common than ニグロ.

Similar words

黒こく人じん
The standard, neutral term for a Black person in modern Japanese. ニグロ is an outdated and potentially offensive loanword.

Etymology

Loanword from English 'Negro', likely via Portuguese or Spanish 'negro' meaning 'black'. The term entered Japanese in the early 20th century but has fallen out of favor due to its derogatory connotations in English.

だい

で

は

「

ニグロ

」

の

代か

わり

に

「

黒こく

人じん

」

と

言い

う

の

が

普ふ

通つう

だ

。

Nowadays, it is normal to say 'kokujin' instead of 'niguro'.