Meaning & use
yellow bone
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountableinformalslangoffensive
A slang term, mainly in African American usage, for a Black person with light skin; it can be used admiringly or insultingly and many consider it colorist.
Grammar: Can be written yellowbone or yellow bone; its tone depends heavily on speaker and context, and outsiders should avoid it.
Patterns
- call someone a yellow bone
Writers discuss how calling someone a yellow bone can reflect colorism within a community.
In some regional dialects the phrase is used about a light-skinned person.
The documentary examined why terms like yellow bone feel hurtful to some people and affectionate to others.
Word forms
| plural | yellow bones |
|---|
Common combinations
- term yellow bone
- Scholars study the term yellow bone in discussions of skin tone and status.
- called a yellow bone
- He recalled being called a yellow bone as a child, and how it affected him.
- yellow bone and colorism
- The essay links the phrase yellow bone to colorism.
Synonyms and how they differ
- light-skinned
- Light-skinned is the plain, neutral description and is far safer in ordinary speech than yellow bone.
- high yellow
- High yellow is an older, now widely offensive term for the same idea and should be avoided.
Word family
Practice
Which statement about the term yellow bone is most accurate?
Choose one answer.
Yellow bone is slang whose impact depends on speaker and context and which many find colorist. It is not a scientific or medical term or a polite standard description.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “yellow bone”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.