boong

noun

ˈbüŋ,

ˈbōˌäŋ

plural -s

slang, Australia, usually offensive

1

: aborigine sense 1b

2

: a native of New Guinea

Word History

Etymology

of unknown origin

Note: The Australian National Dictionary (Oxford University Press, 1988) suggests that it is borrowed from a word beŋ, "man, human being," in Wemba-Wemba, an aboriginal language formerly spoken in northern Victoria and adjacent New South Wales. More recently, though, R.M.W. Dixon, et al., in Australian Aboriginal Words in English: Their Origin and Meaning (Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, 2006), reject any aboriginal origin for the word and suggest that it may be borrowed from Jakarta Indonesian bung, a word meaning "elder brother," also used as a general term of address.

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