Had a bet... All I could find at first was this Twitter thread:
But Merriam - Webster says this:
Did the definition of ****** change?
There is a widespread belief that the original meaning of ******, as defined in dictionaries, was "an ignorant person," and a related belief that current dictionary definitions describing its use as a hateful, racist epithet are a recent change. We do not know the source of those beliefs, but they are not accurate. The word was first included in a Merriam-Webster dictionary in 1864, at which time it was defined as a synonym of Negro, with a note indicating that it was used "in derision or depreciation." There has never been a definition like "an ignorant person" for this word in any subsequent dictionary published by this company. Nor do we know of such a definition in any earlier dictionary.
These niccas now saying Merriam - Webster lying. Have any of you ever saw that definition of ******?
But Merriam - Webster says this:
Did the definition of ****** change?
There is a widespread belief that the original meaning of ******, as defined in dictionaries, was "an ignorant person," and a related belief that current dictionary definitions describing its use as a hateful, racist epithet are a recent change. We do not know the source of those beliefs, but they are not accurate. The word was first included in a Merriam-Webster dictionary in 1864, at which time it was defined as a synonym of Negro, with a note indicating that it was used "in derision or depreciation." There has never been a definition like "an ignorant person" for this word in any subsequent dictionary published by this company. Nor do we know of such a definition in any earlier dictionary.
These niccas now saying Merriam - Webster lying. Have any of you ever saw that definition of ******?