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• poor white
  poor white

  noun

  a member of a class of white people, especially of the southern U.S., having low social status and little or no money, property, or education.
• poor White
  poor White

  noun

poor white

American  

noun

Usually Disparaging and Offensive.

1. a member of a class of white people, especially of the southern U.S., having low social status and little or no money, property, or education.

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poor White British  

noun

1. offensive

   1. a poverty-stricken and underprivileged White person, esp in the southern US and South Africa

   2. ( as modifier )

      poor White trash

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Etymology

Origin of poor white

An Americanism dating back to 1810–20

Example Sentences

In American society, it has been a constant rule that the policy makers and other elites who are hurting working-class and poor white people are hurting working-class and poor Black people too.

From Salon • Feb. 8, 2026

I think what this documentary reveals to people who may not know is that poor white folks in Appalachia and poor Black and brown folks in South Los Angeles are going through very similar problems.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 5, 2023

The play follows a day in the life of a Black sharecropper and his family, living amid the ruins of an old plantation, alongside a poor white family who reside in a decaying slave mansion.

From New York Times • Mar. 7, 2023

He wrote the bestseller “Hillbilly Elegy,” which touches on the abandonment of poor white people — even though he has a law degree from Yale and worked as a venture capitalist.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 28, 2022

Were the poor white passengers going to die as a result?

From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane