---
title: Barbaric
slug: barbaric
flag:
  text: 'Neo-Colonial/Racist slur'
  level: 'avoid'
defined: true
excerpt: Something which is obscenely cruel; primitive; unsophisticated. In modern day usage, you can notice this rhetoric being employed almost always for the purpose of demonizing "foreign" (more often than not from the global south) cultures.
speech: adjective
reading:
  - text: 'is the word barbarian a slur?'
    href: https://seetobehumanityearth.wordpress.com/2015/07/16/is-the-term-barbarian-a-slur/
  - text: 'Barbarian wiki'
    href: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbarian
alt_words:
  - cruel
  - vicious
  - obscene
  - feral
---

something which is obscenely cruel; primitive; unsophisticated

## Issues

Barbarian originates from the Greek word _bárbaros_ meaning "babbler", to denote the "unintelligible sounds" (_"bar bar bar"_) made by foreign speakers.
Similar words exist in many other languages, for the identical purpose labeling a "strange"/"foreign" person/culture.

In modern day usage, you can notice this rhetoric being employed almost always for the purpose of demonizing "foreign" (more often than not from the global south) cultures - cultures that need to be civilized;
cultures that need to be colonized to rescue them from themselves. A perfect lingual weapon for warmongers and racists alike. Equally repulsive sibling of "savage".

## Impact

When you use words, that are in vogue primarily inside circles of bigots, with racist etymologies, it's a wilful act of violence, ignorance and an indication to the vilified and minoritised communities that their history of wounds and abuses are inconsequential to our words.

## Usage Tip

Avoid words that have obscene etymologies. There is almost always a better alternative: an inclusive and a less hurtful one.