Wiktionary

Jap

See also: JAP, jap, Jap., and jap.

English

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Etymology

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Shortened from Japanese, attested as a noun since 1872, and adjectivally since 1878.[1] Compare Nip (shortened from Nippon).

Pronunciation

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Proper noun

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Jap

  1. (offensive, slang, ethnic slur) The Japanese language.
    • 2007, Les A. Murray, Fredy Neptune, page 239:
      He petered out under Pitty's savage look: Do you speak Jap? Do you understand the world from inside those bastards' slanty-eyed little head-lopping poem-writing minds?
    • 2012, Robert Conroy, Rising Sun:
      He said it in Japanese, which surprised the boy and stunned Cullen.
      “You speak Jap?” asked Cullen.
      “Looks like it, doesn't it?”
  2. (informal, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia) Short for Japanese. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Noun

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Jap (plural Japs)

  1. (derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur, US) A Japanese person.
    • 1872, James Brooks, A Seven Months' Run, Up, Down, Around the World‎[1]:
      Among our Japs on board are two returning from Italy, where they have been with silk-worms' eggs, on cards, to sell. This has become a great speculation, and the Japs are going into it with zeal. The Japs almost always—always when they can—take cabin passages ; the Chinese seldom, or never.
    • 1964, Harry S. Truman, 1:38 from the start, in MP2002-288 Former President Truman Discusses the Battle of Okinawa‎[2], Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives Identifier: 595162:
      We had to kill 110,000 Japanese before we took Okinawa, and when the officers of the Japanese are killed- or defeated- they commit suicide. They cost us 12,000 men and they had to kill 110,000 Japs. And it's a terrible thing- don't know what you're gonna do with any crazy outfit like that except all you can do is to destroy them, and that's too bad.
    • 1968, Lyman P. Van Slyke, editor, The Chinese Communist Movement: A Report of the United States War Department, July 1945‎[3], Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 90:
      American officers have observed how Chinese troops stationed at American air bases have frequently refused to shoot at Japanese raiding planes. Asked by an American officer for the reason for this behavior, a Chinese officer at Lao-ho-k’ou air base in Hupeh answered (November 1944): “Well you see, if we shot down a Jap plane, the Japs would be angry and would take revenge and return and bomb the city and do a lot of damage.”

Synonyms

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  • Japanese (neutral; non-offensive)
  • Nip (pejorative, ethnic slur)

Derived terms

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Translations

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Adjective

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Jap (not comparable)

  1. (derogatory, ethnic slur) Japanese; of or pertaining to Japan or its people.
    • 1951, James Albert Michener, The Voice of Asia, page 6:
      A soldier might grab his rifle and batter his way to the heart of some Jap position. Back home they gave him all sorts of medals but his companions dismissed him as the poor bastard who finally went Asiatic.

Verb

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Jap (third-person singular simple present Japs, present participle Japping, simple past and past participle Japped)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of jap

References

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  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “Jap”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

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Dutch

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Shortening of Japanner, Japans, etc..

Pronunciation

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Noun

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Jap m (plural Jappen)

  1. (derogatory, ethnic slur, usually offensive, unofficial spelling) a Jap, a Japanese person

Usage notes

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  • Though the officially prescribed spelling is jap, the term is often written with a capital by analogy with demonyms.
  • Generally considered offensive. In polite language it is only used in historical derived terms like jappenkamp.

Derived terms

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Indonesian

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Hakka 葉／叶 (Ya̍p).

Proper noun

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Jap

  1. a surname from Hakka
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