sand nigger

US/ˈsænd ˌnɪɡəɹ/

noun

A person of Middle Eastern or North African descent.

“When school got cancelled because of a bomb threat, I overheard classmates saying that it was probably my friend Abdullah who did it while they called him a sand nigger terrorist.”

Meanings

nounsand nigger (plural sand niggers)

plural sand niggers · alternative sandnigga · alternative sand-nigger · alternative sandnigger

  1. derogatoryethnicoffensiveslurA person of Middle Eastern or North African descent.

    When school got cancelled because of a bomb threat, I overheard classmates saying that it was probably my friend Abdullah who did it while they called him a sand nigger terrorist.

    5 more examples

    “…Nayeri shed both her accent and her Iranian identity to fit in her new home, where she thought she could grow up believing in herself. Her story is about the transplant’s struggle for acceptance in a society where discrimination is rampant. In Oklahoma, kids called her, among other vulgarities, “cat-eater, terrorist, sand-nigger.” She remained silent and tried to be grateful for her American life.””

    2019 September 5, “The Ungrateful Refugee reviewed in the New York Times”, in Institute for Ideas and Imagination

    Lafferty would point to one cracked Islamic plate ( which was in a case in the dining room in Honolulu ) and say “ can you believe this piece of shit is worth millions of dollars ? ' Lafferty would say the Islamic art was made by ' sand niggers '.

    1996, Pony Duke, Jason Thomas, Too Rich: The Family Secrets of Doris Duke, page 206

    […] which included a drive-by shooting at a mosque in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and verbal and physical assaults on Muslims who were called “sand niggers."

    2003, Jennifer Spangler, A Memorial to Terrorism's Victims, page 7

    At local universities, there were a few incidents of students spitting on and throwing rocks at Muslim women. Verbal violence was also reported. One teenage interviewee described separate incidents in which two brothers were called sand niggers, and one was brutally beaten.

    2008, Katherine Pratt Ewing, Being and Belonging: Muslims in the United States Since 9/11, page 84

    We didn't hate blacks anymore we hated Muslims. They were the new type of niggers to all the Navy men and us, and veterans in our town called them “sand niggers."

    2015, Jared William Carter, The Southern Saint of Tennessee
    1. derogatoryethnicoffensiveslurA Muslim.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

From sand + nigger, referring to the several deserts located in much of the region.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Danish perker
  • perkerperson of Middle Eastern or North African descent
Dutch zandneger
  • zandnegerperson of Middle Eastern or North African descent
Finnish hiekkaneekeri
  • hiekkaneekeriperson of Middle Eastern or North African descent
German Sandneger
  • Sandnegerperson of Middle Eastern or North African descent
Hebrew ערבוש
  • ערבושperson of Middle Eastern or North African descent
Polish arabus
  • arabusperson of Middle Eastern or North African descent
Romanian arăboi
  • arăboiperson of Middle Eastern or North African descent
Swedish sandneger
  • sandnegerperson of Middle Eastern or North African descent
Cite this entry
APA

sand nigger. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sand%20nigger

MLA

“sand nigger.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sand%20nigger. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sand nigger,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sand%20nigger.

Source: sand nigger on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.