coolie
Americannoun
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an unskilled laborer, especially formerly in China and India.
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an unskilled laborer employed cheaply, especially one brought from Asia.
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a contemptuous term used to refer to an Asian, especially an Indian living in South Africa.
adjective
noun
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a cheaply hired unskilled Oriental labourer
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derogatory an Indian living in South Africa
Sensitive Note
Both meanings of “unskilled Asian laborer” are found almost exclusively in historical contexts, suggesting imperialistic exploitation of these workers. But coolie is still current as an insulting term used to refer to a person of Asian descent, especially in South Africa.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of coolie
First recorded in 1545–55; from Urdu kūlī, from Tamil kūli “hire, hireling”
Vocabulary lists containing coolie
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Madonna corset dress with a coolie hard hat.
From New York Times ● Mar. 3, 2011
Giridharadas introduces us to fascinating characters: The shoeless son of a coolie who transforms himself into a local Dale Carnegie, teaching others how to reinvent themselves.
From New York Times ● Jan. 9, 2011
Recently Wen Ko, a cultured former government official from Hunan, was crushed to death by a truck�while shoveling dirt as an earth coolie.
From Time Magazine Archive
As Sakini, Marlon Brando seems to proclaim with every gesture that his talent is too big for his coolie britches.
From Time Magazine Archive
Fitchett further described one of the butchers as a tall, ugly man, very dark, and very much disfigured by smallpox, all points that tallied exactly with the appearance of this coolie.
From Reminiscences of the Great Mutiny 1857-59 Including the relief, siege, and capture of Lucknow, and the campaigns in Rohilcund and Oude by Forbes-Mitchell, William
The rivalry extends to online merchandise stores, where you can buy an America250 foam roller hat for $35.99, or a set of Freedom 250 coolies for $18, among other gear.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026
I would like to make the savory pecan coolies, but I am quite confused about the amount of flour listed.
From New York Times ● Nov. 4, 2016
Behind them, in the snow, trailed 10,000 coolies, 7,000 mules, 4,000 yaks and 6 camels.
From New York Times ● Aug. 10, 2010
After graduating from Yale he went to France for the Y.M.C.A., worked in a Boulogne canteen for 5,000 coolies of a military labor battalion.
From Time Magazine Archive
Suddenly Lin Nai-Nai nudged me and pointed to the Bund which as usual was lined with rickshas parked on both sides of the street, but there were no coolies with the rickshas.
From "Homesick" by Jean Fritz
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
