Meanings
plural rugheads
- USethnicslangslurA black person.
Rizzo opens the door and he's surrounded — I mean a sea of these kids, I'm talking about tough-looking rugheads.
1993, S. A. Paolantonio, Frank Rizzo: The Last Big Man in Big City America, page 1202 more examples
[…] I don't get why you want to run around with all these rugheads anyway." I automatically sneak a look around. One of these days he's going to say something like that and some big black dude is going to be right there.
2009, Bob Krech, Rebound, page 37Huffing and puffing on arrival, he immediately emphasized that he didn't want “no rugheads” taking care of him. By “rughead,” he meant black people inclusively—male and female. This constraint would create obvious problems.
2015, William Henry Lewis, DoctorSynonyms: rug
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA black person.
Origin
From rug + head, an allusion to curly hair.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
rughead. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rughead
“rughead.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rughead. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “rughead,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rughead.
Source: rughead on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.