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Comments (4)
Anonymous said
at 11:01 pm on Oct 1, 2006
In my dictionary, coolie is "an unskilled laborer or porter usually in or from the Far East hired for low or subsistence wages". It was a totally unknown word for me...
Anonymous said
at 7:12 am on Oct 2, 2006
It's a word that came into English through Chinese-English pidgin. It's probably from a Chinese word, but I'm not sure what word.
Anonymous said
at 7:14 am on Oct 2, 2006
Well, I should have used the dictionary before saying anything. It originally comes from Hindi and maybe Tamil before that, meaning "day laborer."
Risto Kupsala said
at 2:10 pm on Oct 2, 2006
A Tamil dictionary gives two translations for "ku:li", wage(s) and wage worker (hired worker). So the word probably comes from Tamil. I have encountered this word in some comics, books and movies. It's a widespread word but it can't be used for "work" nor "worker" because of it's derogative use. Interestingly the word is quite similar to Chinese "nuli" which means slave.
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