pajeet

English

Alternative forms

• Pajeet

Etymology

An invented Indian-sounding given name, originating from the "Pajeet, my son" meme created on the 4chan message board /int/ in July 2015, mocking Indians' supposed propensity for open-air defecation. This was itself inspired by the "Mehmet, my son" meme, popularized on /int/ in late 2014, which mocked Turkish people. The term acquired wider online usage in the early 2020s. Although the name does not exist in South Asia, similar-sounding names exist, especially in the Indian state of Punjab. The -jeet part is most likely derived from Indian (Punjabi) male names ending with Hindi जीत (jīt, “victory”), such as Baljeet and Sanjeet.

Noun

pajeet (plural pajeets)

1. (Internet slang, originally 4chan, derogatory, ethnic slur) A person of South Asian ancestry.

   Synonym: (ethnic slur) poojeet

   • 2019 April 13, Luke Smith, 4:13 from the start, in Leave Amazon? You can't LEAVE Amazon!‎^[2]:

     You used to be able to e-mail some Amazon representative and get your account deleted maybe; you can't do that anymore, what you have to do nowadays is you either have to live-chat with a pajeet or you have to manually call them.

   • [2020 January 31, Patrik Hermansson, David Lawrence, Joe Mulhall, Simon Murdoch, “Myth, Mysticism, India, and the Alt-Right”, in The International Alt-Right: Fascism for the 21st Century?, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, unnumbered page:

     A glance at the comments section of any alt-right website will confront the viewer with crude racism towards people of non-white ethnicities, not least people of Indian origin, who are various degraded as "Pajeets," "street-shitters," or stereotyped as sexual harassers. Of course, this is unsurprising for a movement rooted in white supremacy.]

Usage notes

• There is substantial variation with regards to how broadly the term is applied. Some people may use "pajeet" to refer to a specific subset of South Asians, such as Indians or Hindus, while others apply it to anyone with brown skin.

Derived terms

• jeet (“an investor who is extremely risk-averse”)
• pajeetware (“poor-quality software created in India”)
• poojeet

 

See also

• street shitter