The term "K-word" most commonly refers to several offensive racial slurs, particularly "kaffir," an extremely offensive racial slur used in South Africa against black people. It is considered hate speech and unlawful to use in South Africa. The term "K-word" is often used to euphemistically refer to "kaffir" to avoid saying the slur itself. Other similarly offensive slurs abbreviated as the "K-word" include "kike," an antisemitic slur, and "keling," a racial slur used in Malaysia and Singapore for people from the Indian subcontinent. In South Africa, "kaffir" originated as an Arabic word meaning "non-believer" but became a deeply pejorative term during the apartheid era and remains highly offensive today. The use of the term is prohibited by law, and courts have ruled against its use as hate speech. Due to its extreme offensiveness, the media and public discourse usually refer to it simply as "the K-word" to avoid repeating it. In summary, the "K-word" is a euphemism for extremely offensive racial slurs, most notably "kaffir" in South Africa, and its use as an epithet is widely condemned and legally banned in many contexts.
