noun
wetback
WEHT-bak
noun
1
A dated, offensive slur for a Mexican or Central American migrant who has crossed into the US illegally.
"The term appears in older news reports but is now widely recognised as a slur and avoided."
How to Use Wetback
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishA historical, deeply offensive term for undocumented Mexican migrants — best known now, avoided in speech.
When to use it
This word is an ethnic slur. It is included here for reference and historical understanding only, not as a term to use.
Word Forms
wetbacks plural
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Etymology
Coined in the 1920s from the idea of migrants wading or swimming across the Rio Grande, and later used in the name of a 1954 US government deportation campaign.