rooinek
/ˈɹɔɪnɛk/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "Again and again the surprise was effected, not by the nation of hunters, but by those rooineks whose want of cunning and of veld-craft had for so long been a subject of derision and merriment."
- "“Well,” said she, “if I hadn't killed more Rooineks than that, I'd be ashamed of myself.”"
- "'My father was at Bronkhurst Spruit,' he continued. 'How they shot the rooineks down that day! Our men lay in the long grass, while the redcoats stood in line on the road, and they shot them like rabbits. The fools! Their guns were in the carts.'"
- "That evening […] the other, quite frankly, said that these rooineks got her down, they were all the same, they thought they owned the earth they walked on."
- "I couldn't care that the ous call me rooinek and sometimes whiterat because of my hair and face. At least I am not a hairyback I tell them."
Etymology
From Afrikaans rooinek, from rooi (“red”) + nek (“neck”). The term refers to South Africans of British descent, who were perceived by Afrikaners to wear headgear (such as solar topees or no hat at all) which was inadequate in protecting them from sunburn, and thus caused them to have red necks. Other theories include the term being a reference to the red collars of 19th-century British military uniforms or to the red markings that British-South African farmers painted on their imported merino sheep. Compare redneck.
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /ˈɹɔɪnɛk/