Word.ws English Dictionary

boogalee

boogalee noun: a Cajun (with the implication that the person has partially black as well as partially white ancestry).

Noun

boogalee (plural boogalees)

  1. (derogatory, sometimes) A Cajun (with the implication that the person has partially black as well as partially white ancestry).
    • "That boogalee's been talking," he said, arranging his pillows higher. "I know he saw me this morning." "He did." "Snoopy," said Donald. "Mr. Petit ain't a boogalee," said Mrs. Candy. "And he ain't snoopy. He's right. What my roomers does is […]"1947, Robert Tallant, Mrs. Candy and Saturday night
    • Avis Trosclair was a boogalee, a Cajun from the deepest bayous of Louisiana, a man of vast inner resources of happiness. About 42 years old, he talked with a perpetual love of humorous conversation, with a Cajun accent.1960, The Twainian

Examples of boogalee in a sentence

  • We were routinely called “boogalees” behind our backs and “coon-asses” to our faces.2011, Myron Tassin, We Are Acadians #2: Nous Sommes Acadiens, Pelican Publishing Company, Inc., →ISBN, page 18:
  • It was just like him to locate a cook-caretaker living right out there in the swamp and to line up some real boogalee guides.2011, Walker Percy, The Moviegoer: A Novel, Open Road Media, →ISBN:
  • To Bobby's schoolmates there, he was more than a non-English speaker, he was a Boogalee, a New Orleanian's derogatory term for a Cadien, or Cajun.2017, Woody Falgoux, Rise of the Cajun Mariners: The Race for Big Oil, Skyhorse, →ISBN:

Forms of boogalee

pluralboogalees
alternative formboogerlee

Origin of boogalee

Probably related to bougie or boogaloo.

Questions about boogalee

What does boogalee mean?
Boogalee means a Cajun (with the implication that the person has partially black as well as partially white ancestry).
How do you use boogalee in a sentence?
We were routinely called “boogalees” behind our backs and “coon-asses” to our faces.
What part of speech is boogalee?
Boogalee is a noun.
What is the plural of boogalee?
The plural of boogalee is boogalees.

Words near boogalee in the dictionary

  1. boofy
  2. boog
  3. booga
  4. booga hag
  5. booga hags
  6. boogalee
  7. boogalees
  8. boogaloo
  9. boogalooed
  10. boogalooing
  11. boogaloos

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: boogalee (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “boogalee.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/boogalee. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.