Wasi'chu

[3] The word has been widely adopted in English since the 1970s[4] based on the belief that it literally means "fat taker" or greedy person and therefore carries an implied critique of white people and colonialism.

Though many Sioux people themselves now report "he who takes the fat" as the original meaning of wašíču, this explanation of the word may be a relatively recent phenomenon.

He suggests that the original meaning of wašíču can be more readily explained as simply "doer" referring to the colonialists' access to technology unavailable to the Sioux.

This closely parallels the etymology of words in other Native American languages meaning "white man.

[4] This has included works of popular history[9] in art,[10] and in popular media; for example, as the title of an episode of the TV show Law and Order: Criminal Intent (2006),[11] and in dialogue heard in Dances with Wolves (1990),[12] Thunderheart (1992),[12] White People documentary (2015),[13] The Stand (2020),[14] Yellowstone (2021),[15] and Tulsa King (2022).

Sioux people's and allies' protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016-17 were often framed as a fight against wasi'chu interests. In modern usage, the word implies colonialist greed and corporate power. [ 1 ]