Glossary of names for the British

Many of these terms may vary between offensive, derogatory, neutral and affectionate depending on a complex combination of tone, facial expression, context, usage, speaker and shared past history.

Brit is a commonly used term in the United States, the Republic of Ireland and elsewhere, shortened from "Briton" or "Britisher".

[1] "Limey" (from lime / lemon) is a predominantly North American slang nickname for a British person.

Moreover, processing and storing the juice further reduced the amount of vitamin C present, and as a result, lime juice-based grog was not able to prevent scurvy.

[10][11][12] The term Ten-pound Pom refers to British (subsidized) migrants to Australia and New Zealand after World War II.

Other theories are that they come from the use of "pom-pom" guns by the British in the First and Second Boer Wars, from a corruption of "Tommy Atkins", or from "Pompey", a nickname for Portsmouth.

The term is still used today in the British Army in the abridged version "Tom", especially in the Infantry Regiments, to specifically refer to a junior enlisted soldier.

Polish people often use terms Anglik and Anglia to talk about the whole UK, including Scotland, Wales etc.

British people in general are called brit or in plural britek but the term is less widespread and very uncommon.

Inselaffe ("island ape") is a pejorative German term[26][27][28] allegedly dating back to English scientists Darwin and Wallace's publications on evolution.

[33] The name originated during the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) between England and France, when English soldiers achieved notoriety among the French for their frequent use of profanity and in particular the interjection "God damn".

[34][35][36] In one of the Vindolanda tablets from Hadrian's Wall the pejorative Latin word Brittunculi (wretched little brits).

[37] During the Second Boer War, the British became known as khakis, in reference to the colour of their uniforms – which, by then, was no longer the red coats as those were unsuitable for the South African climate.

[38][39] Another now largely archaic term used by Afrikaners to describe South Africans of British descent is soutie or soutpiel, meaning 'salty' or 'salty penis' respectively.

[40] In the East African Bantu languages mzungu has come to mean any white European but more often than not especially the British or English, due to their prior presence in the region.

Ingraj is used in Maharashtra (Marathi) and West Bengal (Bengali) in India to refer to British people.

Another alternative to mat salleh is orang putih (literally 'white people' in Malay) or its shortened rural form, omputih.

[citation needed] Southeast Asian Hokkien and Teochew speakers also call the British ang mo (紅毛), which literally means 'red-haired'.

More formal names also exist, such as the Chinese 聯合王國 Liánhéwángguó and Japanese 連合王国 Rengōōkoku literally meaning 'United Kingdom'.

Separate words exist in all of these languages for each of the constituent parts of the UK, including England, although, as elsewhere, there is little awareness of correct usage.

In Chinese, yīngjílì (Simplified characters: 英吉利), a transliteration of English, is also used to refer Britain in general.

In Hong Kong, gweilo (pronounced [kʷɐ̌i lǒu]) is a slang word to generally refer to white westerners.