Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Used as a disparaging term for a person of color, especially a person from northern Africa or western or southern Asia.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun UK, slang, pejorative, ethnic slur Any dark-skinned person. Most commonly used to refer to people of Indian, North African, Mediterranean, or Middle Eastern ancestry.
  • noun Australia, slang, pejorative, ethnic slur A person of Southern European, Mediterranean (especially Italian, Lebanese, and Greek people), or Middle Eastern ancestry or in some cases, Eastern European ancestry (compare wop).
  • noun Abbreviation of polliwog
  • noun Short for pollywog, or a sailor who has never crossed the Equator. Often referred to as either filthy, slimy, or even dirty wogs
  • noun A minor illness, a bug, an insect or parasite.
  • noun Scientology an acronym for "Without Goals", i.e. a person who is not a Scientologist.
  • noun piping/valves WOG = water-oil-gas, typically marked on valves indicating acceptable for use with these fluids.
  • verb slang To steal.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (offensive British slang) term used by the British to refer to people of color from Africa or Asia

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably short for golliwog.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Abbreviation of polliwog.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Unknown.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Perhaps an abbreviation of golliwog.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Initialism, coined by L. Ron Hubbard.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Initialism.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Unknown.

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Examples

  • For the term wog, I recommend John Masters 'Bhowani Junction (see below).

    In The Prison of His days 2008

  • And I stick by the term wog from the bog - I had no intention of offending anybody, I just think its funny.

    Irish Blogs 2009

  • In any case, the origin of the word wog is unknown.

    Telegraph Blogs 2009

  • My dad's an unbelievably positive person, but I do know that he was called a wog, and probably had a hard time at work, and could speak very little "Inguish".

    Home | Mail Online 2009

  • The word 'wog' is a uniquely English one, although today it is an apt description of my status as an American if not a good description of how I feel.

    Hooman Majd: An American Wog on July 4th 2008

  • He -- actually I think humorously-- treated the great Indian ornithologist Salim Ali like a "wog" Ali, a sane man who considered M. a friend, found it funnier than not in his autobiography.

    Archive 2006-05-01 2006

  • He -- actually I think humorously-- treated the great Indian ornithologist Salim Ali like a "wog" Ali, a sane man who considered M. a friend, found it funnier than not in his autobiography.

    Heroes and Villains 2006

  • It was an article that basically maintained that my dear friend Joseph Massad is a "wog" who has gone too far, and that he has to behave himself, and act like a submissive Arab living in the West.

    Saturday, April 30, 2005 As'ad 2005

  • When my grandfather got called a wog it wasn’t meant as a joke.

    Cheeseburger Gothic » Poor Harry 2009

  • I didn't know what 'wog' meant, I just knew that it would upset him and so I said it.

    Word Magazine - Comments Patrick Crowther 2010

Comments

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  • "The word is often mistakenly thought to be an acronym. What the acronym supposedly stands for, however, varies in the telling:

    * Westernized Oriental Gentleman

    * Worthy Oriental Gentleman

    * Wily Oriental Gentleman

    * Wonderful Oriental Gentleman

    * Working On Government Service

    This last comes with a legend that wogs was stenciled on the shirts of workmen along the Suez Canal. The story and the acronymic origin, however, are false."

    - wordorigins.org

    August 4, 2009

  • (see also conversation on wogball)

    August 4, 2009