Negro - in Other Languages

In Other Languages

In Portuguese, negro is an adjective for the color black, although preto is the most common antonym of branco (white). In Brazil and Portugal, negro is the most respectful way to address people of Black African descent, with preto sometimes being considered politically incorrect or a racial slur.

While negro is most commonly used to describe the color in general in Spanish, it can also be used to describe people with dark-colored skin. In Spain, Mexico and almost all of Latin-America, negro (note that no ethnonyms, names of nationalities, etc. at all are generally capitalized in Romance languages) means "black person" in colloquial situations, but it can be considered to be derogatory in other situations (as in English, "black" is often used to mean irregular or undesirable, as in "black market/mercado negro"). However, in Spanish-speaking countries such as Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay where there are few people of African origin and appearance, negro (negra for females) is commonly used to refer to partners, close friends or people in general independent of skin color. In Venezuela the word negro is similarly used, despite its large African descent population.

Its usage can be similar to the use of the word "nigga" in urban communities in the United States. For example, one might say to a friend, "Negro ¿Como andas? (literally "Hey, black one, how are you doing?"). In this case, the diminutive negrito can be used, as a term of endearment meaning "pal", "buddy" or "friend". Negrito has come to be used to refer to a person of any ethnicity or color, and also can have a sentimental or romantic connotation similar to "sweetheart", or "dear" in English (in the Philippines, negrito was used for a local dark-skinned short person, living in the Negros islands among other places).

In other Spanish-speaking South American countries, the word negro can also be employed in a roughly equivalent form, though it is not usually considered to be as widespread as in Argentina or Uruguay (except perhaps in a limited regional and/or social context). In Brazil, it heavily depends on the region. In Rio de Janeiro, for example, where the main racial slur against black people is crioulo (literally creole i.e. American-born African), preto/preta and pretinho/pretinha can along extremely informal situations be used the same ways as negro/negra and negrito/negrita in Spanish-speaking South American, but it heavily changes in the nearby state of São Paulo, where crioulo is considered an archaism and preto is the most used racial slur against black people, thus all kind of use of the preto word can be deemed as offensive.

Moreno can be used as an euphemism both in Spanish and Portuguese but it also means just "tanned" or "dark-haired". People from all ethnic origins and races can be addressed by such word, but the widespread use of the word as a roughly equivalent of the English "swarthy" in Brazil made it a very colloquial term for Pardo and all other non-White people. Generally, nevertheless nowadays it is considered politically incorrect to address an Afro-Brazilian by the term moreno, as if it was a subtle attempt of erasing their blackness by calling them "swarthy one" (the historical stigma of being Black or partially Black in Brazil made many people being "racially promoted" from Black to Pardo and from Pardo to White, and this can be seen as a perpetuation of this process). Still, this use for westernized Amerindians, mixed-race people of Amerindian and European descent, multiracial afrodescendants and Asian people with dark complexions is entirely not offensive. Similar trends in the Hispanic world are not so well-noticed.

In Turkish, the word siyahi is generally used as a neutral term to address a person of dark-skinned or blackish appearance. Siyahi, literally means black-colored, is gradually replaced by a more official word Afrika kökenli (of African origin). Zenci (from the Arabic zanj) is quite a popular colloquial term to refer to a person of African origin and it is commonly used without any negative connotation. Sometimes çikolata renkli (Chocolate colored) can be heard as a sympathetic definition for a black sport player or a celebrity. A rare and old-fashioned word Marsık literally denotes to charcoal can offensively be used to define a skinny and heavily tanned person, not necessarily a person of African descent.

In Haitian Creole, the word nèg, derived from the French "nègre", refers to a dark-skinned man; it can also be used for any man, regardless of skin color, roughly like "guy" or "dude" in American English.

The Dutch word, "neger" is generally (but not universally) considered to be a neutral one, or at least less negative than "zwarte" (black one).

In German, Neger was considered to be a neutral term for black people, but gradually fell out of fashion since the 1970s. Neger is now mostly thought to be derogatory or racist. The terms Schwarzer (black person), Farbiger (colored person) or Afrikaner/Afro-Amerikaner (African/Afro-American) are commonly used, and the obsolete Mohr (from Latin morus, black) survives in advertising. There is also a kind of sweet traditionally referred to as "Negerkuss" (literally "negro kiss").

In Hungarian, néger (possibly originates in its German equivalent) is still considered to be the most neutral term (together with afro-amerikai which is rarely used), while other words such as fekete (black person) or színesbőrű (colored person) are somewhat offensive. However, the term nigger is widely considered to be extremely pejorative.

In Russia, the term "негр" (negr) was commonly used in the Soviet period without any negative connotation, and its use continues in this neutral sense. In modern Russian media, the word is used somewhat less frequently—"африканцы" (afrikantsuy, "Africans") or "афро-американцы" (afro-amerikantsuy, "Afro-Americans") are used instead, depending on the situation), but is still common in oral speech. The word "black" (чёрный) as a noun used as a form of address is pejorative, although it is primarily used with respect to peoples of the Caucasus, natives of Central Asia, and not black people. The word "black" (чёрный) as an adjective is also used in a neutral sense and means the same as "негр" (negr), e.g. "чёрные американцы" (chyornuye amerikantsuy, "black Americans"), "чёрное население" (chyornoe naselenie, "the black population"), etc. Other alternatives to "негр" are темнокожий (temnokozhiy—"dark-skinned"), чернокожий (chernokozhiy—"black-skinned"). These two are used as both nouns and adjectives.

In the Italian, negro was used as a neutral term until the end of the 1960s. Nowadays the word is considered offensive; if used with a clear offensive intention it may be punished by law. Joking, non-offensive words are: moretto, moretta. Neutral words to define a black or dark-skinned person are nero (literally "black") or di colore (coloured—or literally "of colour").

In Swedish, as well as in Norwegian, neger used to be considered a neutral term for black people, but the term has gradually fallen out of favour through the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Today the neutral term to define a black person is svart ("black"). There is a Swedish pastry traditionally called negerboll (literally "negro ball"). Due to its possible offensive character, the name has fallen out of favor in for example new cooking books, being replaced by "Chokladboll" (Chocolate Ball), though it is still used colloquially.

In Denmark, "Neger" is still considered a neutral word that most of the population use when describing a person of African descent.

In the Finnish language the word neekeri (negro) was considered a neutral term for black people. Very few—if literally any—black people lived in Finland before the 1980s. In 2002 neekeri's definition was changed from perceived as derogatory by some to generally derogatory in line with ryssä (Ruskie) and hurri (Swedish-speaking Finn) in Kielitoimiston sanakirja. Also, there was a popular Finnish pastry called Neekerinsuukko (lit. "negro's kiss"). The manufacturer changed the name to Brunbergin suukko ("Brunberg's kiss") in 2001. Today, neutral terms to define a black person include musta ("black"), tumma (lit. "dark-shaded"), tummaihoinen ("dark-skinned") and mustaihoinen ("black-skinned"). A study conducted among native Finns found that 90 % of research subjects considered the terms ”neekeri”, ”ryssä” ja ”manne” (term referring to Finnish Roma) most derogatory names for ethnic minorities.

In the French language, the positive concept of negritude was developed by the Senegalese politician Léopold Sédar Senghor.

The word for a black man in the Irish language is fear gorm, which literally means "blue man". This is because the phrase "fear dubh"—literally, "black man"—was already in use meaning the devil before black people were known in Ireland.