coolie

Signification (Anglais)

1. An unskilled Asian worker, usually of Chinese or Indian descent; a labourer; a porter. Coolies were frequently transported to other countries in the 19th and early 20th centuries as indentured labourers.
2. (Caribbean, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad-and-Tobago, ethnic, slur) An Indian or a person of Indian descent.

Concepts

coolie

manœuvre

travailleur manuel

Coolie

Synonymes

laborer

carrier

cooly

porter

workman

labourer

unskilled worker

worker

servant

unskilled laborer

living by day-labour

construction worker

👷

craftsman

toil

toiler

hired labourer

manual laborer

palanquin bearer

wandering robber

Traductions

Kuli

koelie

Arbeiter

cúli

cole

culi

köle

cule

Sänftenträger

الحمال

αχθοφόρος

χαμάλης

κούλης

coolie

Prononcé comme (IPA)

/ˈkuːli/

Étymologie (Anglais)

Appartenant à bengali: কুলি

Appartenant à tamoul: கூலி

Appartenant à Mandarin Chinese: 苦力

In summary

From Hindustani क़ुली / قلی (qulī, “hired laborer”), possibly from Ottoman Turkish قول (kul, “servant”). Another theory says that it is named after Gujarati કોળી (koḷī), a Gujarati tribe or caste. Other forms occur in Bengali কুলি (kuli) and Tamil கூலி (kūli, “daily hire”). Possibly also influenced by Hindustani کولی (kolī) / कोली (kolī, “weaver; low-class”). In Kurdish Koile (کۆیلە) and Quli (قولى): Slave, Servant. Kawli (Keweli): Low-Class, Gypsy.
Mandarin 苦力 (kǔlì, “hard labor”) may have been influenced by cognates of the above Hindi word in other languages and may have further influenced English.