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A word or phrase is pejorative if it expresses contempt or disapproval about the thing or person described. Most pejorative expressions may also be used in a non-pejorative way, however, and (as with any implied meaning) determining the intent of the speaker is problematic. Although pejorative means the same thing as disparaging, the latter term may be applied to a look or gesture as well as to words and phrases.
Sometimes a term may begin as a pejorative word and eventually grow to have a non-pejorative sense. This happened with the terms Yankee and Ham radio operator, which changed from being slang insults to being worn with pride. In other cases, some groups have attempted to reclaim formerly offensive words applied against them, with limited success: In many cases, usage of a term like nigger, redneck," white cracker", dyke, queer, faggot, tranny, pervert, Kraut, or cripple by someone outside the group is still considered pejorative (and thus offensive).
Conversely, a neutral (non-pejorative) term may grow to become pejorative: The term retardedMental retardation (abbreviated as MR , not to be confused with Mister abreviated Mr. is a term for a pattern of persistently slow learning of basic motor and language skills ("milestones") during childhood, and a significantly below-normal intellectual c, to refer to a person whose mental capacity is permanently weak, was originally used as a euphemismA euphemism is a word or phrase which people use in place of terms which they consider to be more disagreeable or offensive to themselves and/or to their audience. The linguistic taboo may be an unspeakable name for a deity, such as Persephone, Hecate, Ne to avoid the pejorative senses of words like moronic, feebleminded, and half-witted. But it quickly grew to have a pejorative sense of its own. (It is worth noting that, in its own time, moron was a euphemism for the pejorative word idiot.) This same progression, from neutral to pejorative, may be happening with the words challenged and special, used in the same sense, today. Language writer Steven PinkerSteven Pinker (born September 18 1954, in Montreal, Canada) is a psychologist at Harvard University and a writer of popular science books. He was a professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology fo has called this process "the euphemism treadmillTreadmill is an indoor sporting tool used to allow for running without moving any distances. The principal is a belt system (a motor driving a circular run of material) the top of the belt moving to the rear so as to allow a runner to run an equal, and ne."
Since meanings change over time, consult an up-to-date dictionary for information on specific words.
See also
Sociolinguistics
