paleface

[ peyl-feys ]

noun

1. Slang. a white person, as distinguished from a North American Indian.

paleface

/ ˈpeɪlˌfeɪs /

noun

1. a derogatory term for a White person, said to have been used by North American Indians

Word History and Origins

Origin of paleface¹

1815–25; pale ¹ + face, expression attributed to North American Indians

Example Sentences

Many of the writers Winters most admired wound up in Rahv’s paleface pantheon—Hawthorne, Melville, Emily Dickinson, Henry James.

From The New Yorker

In 2018 we have come, finally, to the punch line of an old joke—the one that ends with Tonto asking the Lone Ranger: “What do you mean ‘we,’ paleface?”

From Wall Street Journal

“It was written by me - it was a kid letter and didn’t have adult print on it. And I used Indians terminology, like ‘paleface.’”

From Washington Times

"Crowfoot him think all paleface drink the firewater."

From Project Gutenberg

But, devoted to the paleface, he had for her sake curbed his heat.

From Project Gutenberg