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Meaning of "White man's burden" in the English dictionary

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PRONUNCIATION OF WHITE MAN'S BURDEN

White man's burden play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF WHITE MAN'S BURDEN

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
White man's burden is a noun.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

WHAT DOES WHITE MAN'S BURDEN MEAN IN ENGLISH?

White man's burden

The White Man's Burden

"The White Man's Burden" is a poem by the English poet Rudyard Kipling. It was originally published in the popular magazine McClure's in 1899, with the subtitle The United States and the Philippine Islands. The poem was originally written for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, but exchanged for "Recessional"; Kipling changed the text of "Burden" to reflect the subject of American colonization of the Philippines, recently won from Spain in the Spanish-American War. The poem consists of seven stanzas, following a regular rhyme scheme. At face value it appears to be a rhetorical command to white men to colonize and rule other nations for the benefit of those people. Although Kipling's poem mixed exhortation to empire with somber warnings of the costs involved, imperialists within the United States of America understood the phrase "white man's burden" as a characterization for imperialism that justified the policy as a noble enterprise. Because of its theme and title, it has become emblematic both of Eurocentric racism and of Western aspirations to dominate the developing world.

Definition of White man's burden in the English dictionary

The definition of White man's burden in the dictionary is the supposed duty of the White race to bring education and Western culture to the non-White inhabitants of their colonies.

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN

White Monk
White Mountains
white mulberry
white mustard
White Nile

WORDS THAT END LIKE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN

Arden
beast of burden
beer garden
burden
common or garden
common-or-garden
Covent Garden
debt burden
disburden
disemburden
faburden
flower garden
garden
harden
Leeuwarden
overburden
rose garden
tax burden
unburden
warden

Synonyms and antonyms of White man's burden in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

Translation of «White man's burden» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF WHITE MAN'S BURDEN

Find out the translation of White man's burden to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of White man's burden from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «White man's burden» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

白人的负担
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

Carga del hombre blanco
570 millions of speakers

English

White man´s burden
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

व्हाइट आदमी का बोझ
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

عبء الرجل الأبيض
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

Бремя белого человека
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

Fardo do homem branco
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

সাদা মানুষের বোঝা
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

Le fardeau de l´homme blanc
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Beban lelaki putih
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

Bürde des weißen Mannes
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

白人の責務
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

화이트 사람의 부담
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Beban wong putih
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

Gánh nặng màu trắng của con người
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

வெள்ளை மனிதனின் சுமை
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

पांढरे माणुस ओझे
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

Beyaz adamın yükü
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

Fardello dell´uomo bianco
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

Ciężar białego człowieka
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

Тягар білої людини
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

Povara omului alb
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

Φορτίο του λευκού ανθρώπου
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

Wit man se las
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

Vite mannens börda
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

Hvite manns byrde
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of White man's burden

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «WHITE MAN'S BURDEN»

The term «White man's burden» is regularly used and occupies the 88.879 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Regularly used
59
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «White man's burden» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of White man's burden
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «White man's burden».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «WHITE MAN'S BURDEN» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «White man's burden» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «White man's burden» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about White man's burden

EXAMPLES

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «WHITE MAN'S BURDEN»

Discover the use of White man's burden in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to White man's burden and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the ...
From one of the world’s best-known development economists—an excoriating attack on the tragic hubris of the West’s efforts to improve the lot of the so-called developing world In his previous book, The Elusive Quest for Growth, ...
William Easterly, 2006
2
Shadowing the White Man’s Burden: U.S. Imperialism and the ...
Shadowing the White Man’s Burden situates American literature in the context of broader race relations, and provides a compelling analysis of the way in which literature came to define and shape racial attitudes for the next century.
Gretchen Murphy, 2010
3
The White Man's Burden: Historical Origins of Racism in the ...
An abridgement of the prize-winning White Over Black
Winthrop D. Jordan, 1974
4
Romances of the White Man's Burden: Race, Empire, and the ...
"Romances of the White Man's Burden" takes on works in American literature in which the proverbial "old plantation" is made to seem not a relic but a harbinger, a sign that the South had arrived at a multiracial modernity and harmony before ...
Jeremy Wells, 2011
5
The Leopard's Spots: A Romance of the White Man's Burden, ...
Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.
Thomas Dixon, 2012
6
Race Over Empire: Racism and U.S. Imperialism, 1865-1900
Generations of historians have maintained that in the last decade of the nineteenth century white-supremacist racial ideologies such as Anglo-Saxonism, social Darwinism, benevolent assimilation, and the concept of the "white man's burden" ...
Eric Tyrone Lowery Love, 2004
7
Literature and Nation
The subtitle of The White Man's Burden' is The United States and the Philippine Islands', which suggests another aspect of England's anxiety: although imperial rivalry is not a theme of this particular poem, the fact that America, Britain's former  ...
Harish Trivedi, Richard Allen, 2000
8
The White Man's Burden: A Satirical Forecast...
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.
Robert Sherman Tracy, 2012
9
The World History Workbook: The Modern World since 1500
RUDYARD KIPLING, “THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN” From Rudyard Kipling, Rudyard Kipling's Verse (New York: Doubleday and Co., 1940), 321–323. A student in this world history course once explained to me that “The White Man's Burden” ...
David Hertzel, 2009
10
The White Man's Burden: A Discussion of the Interracial ...
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series.
B. F. Riley, 2010

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «WHITE MAN'S BURDEN»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term White man's burden is used in the context of the following news items.
1
Privilege: The White Man's Burden
The Washington Post recently ran a story that illuminated something about Millennials that had previously escaped me. Those who claim the mantel of “white ... «American Spectator, Jul 15»
2
The white man's burden revisited
The war on trafficking is a contemporary imperialist move that involves 'the West' saving 'the rest', appearing as a reconfigured version of the 'white man's ... «Open Democracy, Jan 15»
3
Boko Haram: Terrorism and the White Man's Burden
It is important to look at the current crisis in Nigeria not in isolation but within the perspective of the continent's larger colonial and post-colonial history, especially ... «Livemint, May 14»
4
The Poor White Man's Burden
The satirical paper “reported” — in jest, of course — that the white man in question advised a patron of the electronics superstore on different qualities of HDMI ... «Mintpress News, May 14»
5
Pakistan's Malala and the 'White Man's Burden'
Robert Bridge, originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has worked as a journalist in Russia since 1998. His articles have appeared in a number of publications, ... «RT, Nov 13»
6
White Man's Burden 2.0
The Syrian Arab Republic is a country of about 20-million people, created by the French Foreign Office after World War I. Quai d'Orsay didn't make it exactly out ... «National Post, Aug 13»
7
Why 'The White Man's Burden' Has Less Factual Authority than …
As highlighted in the fourth instalment of this India series, Dickensian imagery of Victorian slums, mass squalor and destitution, as well as the institutionalised ... «Huffington Post UK, Aug 13»
8
R2P: The Insanity of the White Man's Burden
All of this is the legacy of Rudyard Kipling's unintentionally ironic poem, “The White Man's Burden: The United State and the Philippine Islands.” The poem was ... «Patheos, Aug 13»
9
Brown man's debt, white man's burden
It's an arresting three words, 'white man's burden'. For brown men, it's a phrase that can't be said without feeling a kind of punch to the stomach. And it's an ... «The Express Tribune, Jul 13»
10
The White Man's Burden
And sure, white people don't need to worryabout being stopped and frisked for no particular reason. And sure, there's no phenomenon called "driving while ... «The American Prospect, Jul 13»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. White man's burden [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/white-mans-burden>. May 2024 ».
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