Wop
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An person of Italian descent. ethnic, slur
"Detective J.J. McVea of the Charles street station, who arrested the boys, says that the robbery of the safe was a remarkable one and showed no trace of amateurism. It was committed by four boys. Besides Lyons and Murphy, he says, there were in it Albert Moquin, 14 years old, of 68 West Third street, and one whom Lyons calls “Oscar the Wop,” or “Oscar the Dago.”"
- 2 Alternative letter-case form of wop (“derogatory: Italian”). alt-of
"Where do you work-a, Wop? In da big-a da barber shop. What do you do-a, Wop?"
- 3 Acronym of workshop-oriented programming. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of
"To exemplify the significance of government policy we refer to the German government-sponsored WOP-programme on "shopfloor-oriented programming of CNC-machine tools" (Nuber, et al., 1989 and WOP Conference Materials, 1987)."
- 4 (ethnic slur) offensive term for a person of Italian descent wordnet
- 1 Alternative form of whop (“to hit or strike”). alt-of, alternative
Example
More examples"Detective J.J. McVea of the Charles street station, who arrested the boys, says that the robbery of the safe was a remarkable one and showed no trace of amateurism. It was committed by four boys. Besides Lyons and Murphy, he says, there were in it Albert Moquin, 14 years old, of 68 West Third street, and one whom Lyons calls “Oscar the Wop,” or “Oscar the Dago.”"
Etymology
From Neapolitan guappo (“dude, stud”), a greeting borrowed from Spanish guapo (“bold, handsome”). Contrary to popular belief, the term is not an acronym of without passport or working off passage, which are backronyms derived from the term. First attested in New York City around 1906, eventually also spreading to Canada, Australia, and Britain.
Related phrases
More for "wop"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.