Chinaman (term)

Chinaman (term)

Chinaman is a contentious English language term that denotes a Chinese man or person, whether by Han Chinese ethnicity, or as a Chinese national, or, in some cases, an indiscriminate term for a person native to geographical East Asia or of perceived East Asian race. Although the term has no negative connotations in older dictionaries, and the usage of such non-parallel compound terms as Englishman, Frenchman and Irishman (but not Chineseman) remain unobjectionable, the term Chinaman is noted as offensive by modern dictionaries. Its derogatory connotations evolved from its use in pejorative contexts regarding the Chinese and other Asians. While usage of the term Chinaman is nowadays strongly discouraged by Asian American organizations, the term has been used by English speakers of Chinese descent and others, without offensive intent, and has also been used as a self-referential archetype by authors and artists of Asian descent.