wop

[wop]

noun Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive.

a contemptuous term used to refer to an Italian or a person of Italian descent.

Origin of wop

1910–15, Americanism; < Italian (Neapolitan dial.) guappo swaggerer < Spanish guapo pimp, ruffian, via dialectal French < Latin vappa wine that has gone flat, worthless person; initial w perhaps by association with a related Gmc word

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

Examples from the Web for wop

Historical Examples of wop

"Don't forget to tell him how the wop licked the Jew," broke in the prisoner.
From Place to Place
Irvin S. Cobb
I wonder can they be talking French, maybe, or Wop, or something?
Free Air
Sinclair Lewis
I began filling the spoon, with the help of "Marty," the Wop.
Steel
Charles Rumford Walker
Even a dumb-head Wop gets his English rapidly when he's where he has to talk that or nothing.
The Killer
Stewart Edward White
Wasn't there a wop named Pizarro or somethin' what got lost down in Florida?
Police!!!
Robert W. Chambers

British Dictionary definitions for wop

wop

noun

slang, derogatory a member of a Latin people, esp an Italian

Word Origin for wop

C20: probably from southern Italian dialect guappo dandy, braggart, from Spanish guapo

wop

verb, noun wops, wopping or wopped

a variant spelling of whop

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 wop

derogatory for "Italian," 1912, American English slang, apparently from southern Italian dialect guappo "dandy, dude, stud," a greeting among male Neapolitans, said to be from Spanish guapo "bold, dandy," which is from Latin vappa "sour wine," also "worthless fellow;" related to vapidus (see vapid). It is probably not an acronym , and the usual story that it is seems to date only to c.1985.