English

Verb

whitesplain ‎(third-person singular simple present whitesplains, present participle whitesplaining, simple past and past participle whitesplained)

1. (colloquial, chiefly Internet) To explain (something) condescendingly to one who is not Caucasian, especially regarding race relations or minority behavior, presuming the listener's inferior understanding because of their race.
   • 2013, Clarence Page (quoting Urban Dictionary), "Rand Paul ‘whitesplaining’ for Howard students", New Haven Register, 16 April 2013:

     Rand Paul whitesplained to students at Howard University that a black Republican founded the NAACP.

   • 2014, Michelle Goldberg, "Feminism's Toxic Twitter Wars", The Nation, 17 February 2014:

     One self-described white feminist tweeted at her to explain that no women of color had been at the Barnard meeting "and that I needed to be educated about that," Wilson recalls. Somehow, activists who prided themselves on their racial enlightenment "were whitesplaining me about racism," she adds, laughing.

   • 2014, Justin Baragona, "Paul Ryan claims Black men are lazy and cause of poverty", New York Beacon, Volume 21, Number 12, 20 March 2014 - 26 March 2014, page 4:

     Obviously, the answer for those living in abject poverty in a jobless environment is to have someone come down from their lofty perch and whitesplain about how to lift yourself up by your bootstraps.

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:whitesplain.

Related terms

• whitesplainer
• whitesplaining

Coordinate terms

• cissplain
• mansplain
• straightsplain