cajun
/ˈkeɪ.d͡ʒən/ noun, adjective
Forms Cajuns Cadien Cajin Cadjin Cagin
- noun A member of the ethnic group descending from Acadia, primarily French-speaking Catholic and living in Southern Louisiana and Maine.
- noun (ethnic slur, dated) Any uneducated, poor Francophone in French Louisiana. “Damn Cajuns! They're all a bunch of lazy coonasses!”
- adjective Relating to the Cajun people or their culture.
- adjective Of spicy food prepared in the style of the Cajun cuisine.
Synonyms
Etymology
An Anglicization of the Acadian French Cadien (itself an aphetic form of Acadien (“Acadian”)), reflecting the palatalization of /dj/ to /d͡ʒ/ in the Acadian dialect.
Webster’s 1913
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “cajun”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details