coolie

[ koo-lee ]

/ ˈku li /

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noun Disparaging and Offensive.

an unskilled laborer, especially formerly in China and India.

an unskilled laborer employed cheaply, especially one brought from Asia.

a contemptuous term used to refer to an Asian, especially an Indian living in South Africa.

adjective

Informal. characteristic of or suitable for a coolie: working for coolie wages.

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Also coo·ly .

Origin of coolie

First recorded in 1545–55; from Urdu kūlī, from Tamil kūli “hire, hireling”

usage note for coolie

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.

Words nearby coolie

cool-headed, cool hunter, Coolidge, Coolidge, Calvin, Coolidge tube, coolie, coolie hat, cooling board, cooling degree-day, cooling-off period, cooling tower

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use coolie in a sentence

A coolie would pay as much as 400 pesos premium to find himself where he could earn up to 100 pesos per month.
The Philippine Islands|John Foreman
The coolie-track had led them into the widest part of the Maidan, where it slopes to the south, and the huts of Bowanipore.
Hilda|Sarah Jeanette Duncan
I made my way with one coolie to a spot some little distance above our First Advanced Camp.
Mount Everest the Reconnaissance, 1921|Charles Kenneth Howard-Bury
As the night was closing in a coolie was observed running down the last steep sandy slope to our camp.
Mount Everest the Reconnaissance, 1921|Charles Kenneth Howard-Bury

One coolie, and then two others, fell out and could not be induced to come further.
Mount Everest the Reconnaissance, 1921|Charles Kenneth Howard-Bury

British Dictionary definitions for coolie

coolie

cooly

/ (ˈkuːlɪ) /

noun plural -ies

a cheaply hired unskilled Oriental labourer

derogatory an Indian living in South Africa

Word Origin for coolie

C17: from Hindi kulī, probably of Dravidian origin; related to Tamil kūli hire, hireling

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012