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Definition of "coon" [coon]

  • Informal A raccoon. (noun)
  • Offensive Slang Used as a disparaging term for a Black person. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "coon" in a sentence
  • "Eric Lott and other scholars have argued that expressions of antiblack racism by Irish Americans—such as the lynchings of blacks during the New York City draft riots of 1863, or their invention of the word coon, or the deliberate attempts by some to belittle blacks in minstrel performances—were efforts to hide “their resemblance, in both class and ethnic terms, to ‘blackness.’”"
  • ""That's what I called the coon's dodge of 'barking a tree,'" said Cyrus."
  • "I have a problem with a racoon in my barn, so I set up a live trap but the coon is to big for the trap so when it is set off th | Field & Stream"