English

Noun

poor white trash ‎(uncountable)

1. (US, obsolete, ethnic slur, used by black slaves) White person or people who worked in (a) servile position(s), for example, as (a) butler(s).
   • 1835 May 30, The London Literary Gazette; and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences, &c., number 958; page 338 of the collected Literary Gazette […] for the year 1835 (published in London):

     In the south, there are no servants but blacks; for the greater proportion of domestics being slaves all species of servitude whatever is looked upon as a degradation; and the slaves themselves entertain the very highest contempt for white servants, whom they designate as ‘poor white trash.’

2. (US, modern, pejorative, ethnic slur) White trash; poor, uneducated white person or people of low social status.

Derived terms

• white trash