white man
/ˈwaɪt mæn/
noun
Origin
Germanic / Old English
hwīt + man — bright/shining + human/person
Overview
Meaning Now
- A man who is considered to be of European descent, typically characterized by relatively light skin pigmentation.
Literal older meaning
A male person with white skin.
Language path
Germanic → English
Earliest form
white man
Earliest period
17th century
Journey
The term evolved from a simple color descriptor to a specific racial classification during the 17th and 18th centuries in the context of the Atlantic slave trade and colonial expansion, serving to distinguish Europeans from indigenous and enslaved populations.
Evolution
- Proto-Germanic
*hwītaz
“bright, shining, white”
- Old English
hwīt mann
“white person”
Original sense referred to brightness or color of garments or hair rather than racial classification.
- Middle English
whit man
“a man who is light-skinned”
- Modern English
white man
“racialized descriptor for persons of European ancestry”
Became a codified racial taxonomy during the era of European colonization.
Connections
Word parts
white
root
light-colored
man
root
adult human male
Related across languages
German
Weißer Mann
white man
Dutch
blanke man
white/light-skinned man
Related words
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Related to white man
External references use DefinedTerm semantics.