yellow peril

Meaning

Noun

• The alleged threat to Western nations by East Asians, especially Chinese or Japanese people, due to their vast population, non-Western cultures, or supposed antagonism to the West.
• East Asian nations or peoples, conceived as threatening.

Related

Similar words

• yellow menace, yellow terror
• yellow horde

Origin

• Of yellow + peril, modeled on earlier French péril jaune. Compare yellow as a racist term for East Asian people. Attested in English from the 1890s. The French cognate is attested from the 1880s.