Injun

[ in-juh n ]

/ ˈɪn dʒən /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR Injun ON THESAURUS.COM

noun Older Use: Often Offensive.

an American Indian.

RELATED WORDS

Amerind, Amerindian, Indian

Origin of Injun

1805–15; variant of Indian, with assibilated d; cf. Cajun

Usage note

Injun is an informal, nonstandard spelling of Indian. See also honest Injun.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for injun

I should hardly like to be called an 'Injun giver', would you?
The Ranch Girls' Pot of Gold|Margaret Vandercook
That Injun'll have t' suffer for un if he's done foul wi' Bob.
Ungava Bob|Dillon Wallace

British Dictionary definitions for injun

Injun

/ (ˈɪndʒən) /

noun

US an informal or dialect word for (American) Indian

honest Injun (interjection) slang genuinely; really

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

Word Origin and History for injun

Injun

1812 (from 1683 as Ingin), spelling representing American English colloquial pronunciation of Indian (q.v.). Honest Injun as an asseveration of truthfuless first recorded 1868, from the notion of assurance extracted from Indians of their lack of duplicity.

"Honest Injun?" inquired Mr. Wilder, using a Western phrase equivalent to demanding of the narrator of a story whether he is strictly adhering to the truth. ["The Genial Showman," London, 1870]

The term honest Indian is attested from 1676.