Macaca (term)

Macaca (term)

Macaca is a word used as a racial slur against African people in some European cultures. Zairian painter Tshibumba Kanda Matulu, for example, said it was used as a pejorative epithet by francophone colonialists in Central Africa's Belgian Congo for the native population. It may be derived from the name of the genus comprising macaque monkeys. The macaque's genus name, Macaca, is a latinization of the Bantu (Kongo) ma-kako, meaning "monkey".

In the United States, the term was at the center of a controversy during the 2006 United States Senate election in Virginia when it was used by the Republican incumbent, George Allen. Most Americans were unfamiliar with the term until continual media coverage alleged it to be a racial slur. Allen said that he was unaware of its reported racial context. Relating to the Allen controversy, "macaca" was named the most politically incorrect word of 2006 by Global Language Monitor, a nonprofit group that studies word usage. The word was also a finalist for the American Dialect Society "Word of the Year" that same year.

Read more about Macaca (term):  Uses, 2006 Virginia Senate Race