misogynoir
/mɪˌsɒd͡ʒəˈnwɑː/
misogynoir means contempt for, hatred of, or prejudice against black women. It carries an Arena rating of 1546, earned across 5 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, misogynoir ranks #700 of 17,151 for The Improbable, #704 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #1,132 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #1,191 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books.
misogynoir is pronounced /mɪˌsɒd͡ʒəˈnwɑː/.
Why “misogynoir” is a great word
Misogynoir is a specific, intersectional contempt that weaponizes both racism and sexism against Black women. Forged by blending the Greek-derived *misogyny* (from *misos* 'hatred' + *gynē* 'woman') with the French *noir* ('black'), the term was coined in 2010 by African-American feminist scholar Moya Bailey. Unlike 'misogyny,' which paints its target with a broad, gendered brush, or 'racism,' which casts its shadow upon an entire race, misogynoir sharpens both forces into a unique and precise cruelty. It is the aggressive presumption of a Black mother's anger, the algorithmic bias that erases a face from search results, and the particular venom lacing a command to 'calm down' in a boardroom; it is the lived knowledge that some hatreds are not merely additive, but are synthesized into something singularly destructive.
Etymology
Blend of misogyny (“contempt for, hatred of, or prejudice against women”) + French noir (“black”), coined by the African-American feminist activist and scholar Moya Bailey and first published in a 2010 online essay: see the quotation below.
noun
- Contempt for, hatred of, or prejudice against black women.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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