What is "peckerwood"

1859, U.S. Southern black dialectal inversion of woodpecker; in folklore, taken as the type of white folks (1929) and symbolically contrasted with blackbird.

n. (context Southern US slang English) A woodpecker.

n. bird with strong claws and a stiff tail adapted for climbing and a hard chisel-like bill for boring into wood for insects [syn: woodpecker, pecker]

Peckerwood (or simply wood) is a Southern US slang term for woodpecker. It is used to describe poor rural whites similar to white trash. Originally an ethnic slur, the term has been embraced by a subculture related to prison gangs and outlaw motorcycle clubs. The origin of the word comes from the Southern African-American dialect version of woodpecker circa 1825-1935. Folklore in the 1920s used the word as a symbolic contrast to the blackbird that represented African-Americans.

Peckerwood or Wood is a racial slur used to refer to White Americans.

Peckerwood may also refer to:

• Peckerwood Cemetery, the prisoners' cemetery at the United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth
• Peckerwood Hill, a nickname for Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery in Huntsville, Texas, operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice
• Peckerwood Creek, a tributary of the Coosa River in Alabama
• Peckerwood, the fictional plantation that is a setting in Mame (musical)