coonery

C3O1O1N1E1R1Y4

noun

The behavior of a "coon"; in present usage now typically meaning a black person who behaves in a subservient way to whites

Scrabble 12

Meanings

nouncoonery (uncountable)
  1. derogatoryethnicsluruncountableThe behavior of a "coon"; in present usage now typically meaning a black person who behaves in a subservient way to whites

    Spike Lee I think there's a lot of stuff out today that is coonery and buffoonery

    3 more examples

    While a Stepin Fetchit movie, a Jimmie Walker sitcom, or a Flavor Flav reality show may have earned charges of coonery, they also brought laughter and pride to black viewers who at some level appreciate that these artists demonstrate[…]

    2012 August 27, Yuval Taylor, Jake Austen, Darkest America: Black Minstrelsy from Slavery to Hip-Hop, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, page 20

    Many early cinematic depictions of blacks were merely unrehearsed coonery performed just to entertain the white masses, or simply minstrel shows from the vaudeville stage featuring happy darkies, dancing around as buffoons and jigaboos.

    2009 September 2, S. Torriano Berry, Venise T. Berry, The A to Z of African American Cinema, Scarecrow Press, →ISBN

    Following E. Patrick Johnson's theory of appropriation, Amber Johnson argues that “social media users frame Dodson's identity as coonery, which appropriates gay, black masculinity in limiting ways.”

    2017 September 5, Lyndsay Michalik Gratch, Adaptation Online: Creating Memes, Sweding Movies, and Other Digital Performances, Lexington Books, →ISBN, page 36

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

coonery. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coonery

MLA

“coonery.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coonery. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “coonery,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coonery.

Source: coonery on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.