coon

== English == === Etymology === Clipping of raccoon. === Pronunciation === (US) IPA(key): /kun/ (UK) IPA(key): /kuːn/ Rhymes: -uːn === Noun === coon (plural coons) (slang, derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) A black person. (informal, chiefly Southern US) A raccoon. Alternative form: 'coon 1865, Henry David Thoreau, Cape Cod, Chapter IX. "The Sea and the Desert", page 187. He also said that minks, muskrats, foxes, coons, and wild mice were found there, but no squirrels. 1963 Sterling North, Rascal, Avon Books (softcover), p 100: How about a glen bong for you and your 'coon? (slang, derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) A black race traitor. Synonyms: Oreo, Uncle Tom (informal, South Africa) A member of a colorfully dressed dance troupe in Cape Town during New Year celebrations. (Southern US, ethnic slur) A coonass; a white Acadian French person who lives in the swamps. (US, dated) A sly fellow. (African-American Vernacular) A black person who "plays the coon"; that is, who plays the dated stereotype of a black fool for an audience, particularly including Caucasians. (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:) ==== Derived terms ==== === Verb === coon (third-person singular simple present coons, present participle cooning, simple past and past participle cooned) (Southern US, colloquial) To hunt raccoons. (climbing) To traverse by crawling, as a ledge. (Southern US, colloquial) To crawl while straddling, especially in crossing a creek. a. 1917, Roger Martin, “The Parson Goes A-Fishing”, Outing, W. B. Holland, volume LXIX, page 216: There is a little ledge low on the face of the cliff, and by this with careful “cooning” one may reach a recession in the rock which makes a lovely arm chair. (Georgia, colloquial) To fish by noodling, by feeling for large fish in underwater holes. (African-American Vernacular, of an African-American) To play the dated stereotype of a black fool for an audience, particularly including Caucasians. 2005, Kermit Ernest Campbell, “gettin’ our groove on”, rhetoric, language, and literacy for the hip hop generation, Wayne State University Press, →ISBN, page 80: From the classic toasts to the dirty dozens to the early blues50 and now to gangsta rap lyrics—why not consider it all just a bunch of niggers cooning for the white man’s delight and dollars? (Southern US, colloquial, dated) To steal. 1940, John W. “Jack” Ganzhorn, I’ve Killed Men, Robert Hale Limited, page 58: Cooning water-melons [sic.] was a common custom, and young people would go out at night on such parties. To prevent any raids on our melon patch Grandfather set a trap alarm—which brought disaster. ==== Quotations ==== For quotations using this term, see Citations:coon. ==== Derived terms ==== coon it === References === === Anagrams === Ocon, cono-, onco-