yellowface means A style of theatrical makeup in which a white actor yellows their face in order to portray an East Asian. It carries an Arena rating of 1259, earned across 47 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, yellowface ranks #253 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #1,271 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #1,322 of 17,149 for Most Exacting Words, #3,624 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words.
Why “yellowface” is a great word
YELLOWFACE — [Noun] A style of theatrical makeup in which a white actor yellows their face to portray an East Asian character. From yellow (adjective) + face (noun), formed by analogy with the earlier term blackface. Unlike blackface (which specifically denotes the darkening of skin to caricature Black people) or cultural appropriation (which describes a broad spectrum of unacknowledged adoption), yellowface is its precise, performative analogue for East Asians—a cosmetic minstrelsy. It is the garish saffron tint of the greasepaint, the stiffened wax of the prosthetic eyelid, and the forced, buck-toothed grin under the stage lights; a deliberate artifice that renders a people into a pigment and a pantomime, a hollow effigy that says more about the maker’s fear and fascination than it does about the people it purports to represent.
Etymology
From yellow + face, based on earlier blackface.
noun
- A style of theatrical makeup in which a white actor yellows their face in order to portray an East Asian.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- brownface 71% match — A style of theatrical makeup in which a white person colours the face brown in order to represent somebody of another race. vs yellowface →
- redface 69% match — A style of theatrical makeup in which a white actor reddens the face in order to portray a Native American. vs yellowface →
- blackface 66% match — The practice in which a nonblack person blackens their face using theatrical makeup in order to portray a caricature of a black person. vs yellowface →
- blackfacing 62% match — performance in blackface makeup vs yellowface →
- facemaking 58% match — The act of making a face (making a facial expression, often for humor, as a taunt, or to indicate distaste). vs yellowface →
- yellowskin 57% match — A yellow-skinned person, often of Southeast Asian or East Asian ethnic origin. vs yellowface →
- transface 54% match — The practice of a cisgender person (especially one of the opposite gender) portraying a transgender person in media. vs yellowface →
- gayface 53% match — An obvious, apparent, or stereotypical appearance of homosexuality based on a person's countenance, often characterized by effeminacy in males and masculinity in females. vs yellowface →