prairie nigger

English

Etymology

From prairie, the chief habitat of Native American peoples of the Great Plains, and nigger.

Noun

prairie nigger (plural prairie niggers)

1. (ethnic slur, derogatory, slang) A Native American person, especially one from the nations native to Great Plains, such as the Apache, Sioux, Pawnee and Crow.
   • 1994, Louise Erdrich, The Bingo Palace, HarperCollinsPublishers, →ISBN, page 71:

     As I turn away with my purchase, I hear him mutter something and I stop. I thought I heard it, but I wasn't sure I heard it. Prairie nigger.

   • 2004, Johnny D. Boggs, Spark on the Prairie, Thorndike Press, →ISBN, page 293:

     "I know he's a damned Kiowa, mister, and that's all I have to know about that prairie nigger."

   • 2011, James Robb, Corona Rapture, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 53:

     […] I don't have to listen to some prairie nigger whine about ethics. Go drink it out on a reservation," Amanda said, breaking for the stairs.
     "I'm Sicilian," Luca corrected.
     "I don't care what tribe you're from!" […]

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:prairie nigger.

Synonyms

• (ethnic slur for Native American person): red nigger, tree nigger, redskin, timber nigger