Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also Chinkee, chinky-chap, Chinkeyman) a derog. term for a Chinese person.

1875		Argus (Melbourne) 15 July 7/1: hje then broke the door open, and said ‘Send that chinky out’.
1878		J.H. Nicholson ‘Bunkum in Parvo’ in Opal Fever 116: Cursed be his pigtail, and cursed be his hide [...] I wish him no harm, but I hope that ere long, / All the Chinkies in Queensland will go to Hong-kong.
1879		W.J. Barry Up and Down 51: We [...] had a good passage to Hong-Kong. When we arrived, the first Chinese war with Britain had broken out, and there was every appearance of plenty of fun to be shortly had with the Chinkies .
1880		Bulletin (Sydney) 21 Aug. 4/1: Judge Barry [...] took exception to the word ‘Chinamen,’ which Sir Redmond states is grammatically wrong, ‘Chinese’ [...] Most people say ‘Chinkie’.
1882		A.J. Boyd Old Colonials 233: The pleasant traits of character in our colonialised ‘Chinkie,’ as he is vulgarly termed.
1891		H. Lawson ‘The Cambaroora Star’ in Roderick (1967–9) I 159: We think that the Chinkies are as bad as syndicates.
1894		‘The Rocks Push Eisteddfod’ in Bird o’ Freedom (Sydney) in J. Murray Larrikins (1973) 88: Botany had been on the heathen chinkie’s trail / And come away triumphantly with many a long pigtail.
1895		Truth (Sydney) 28 Apr. 4/8: Plenty lain come down, aller same heah, an’ then Chinkeyman not able lun away.
1898		F.W. Hume Hagar of the Pawn-Shop 76: How was a young gal like you to best a Chinky?
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 7 June 3/2: The proposed slaughter of more than a million Chinkies in one act shows that there is nothing mean or retail about their reverences’ ideas.
1901		W.S. Walker In the Blood 49: ‘See that Chinki,’ said Billy. ‘Ching Chong Chinaman.’ [Ibid.] 161: Why, the Chinkie’s ain’t in it.
1912		Truth (Wellington) 6 Apr. 6/3: Wong’s wife on the Sunday night in question flirted with another Chinkie.
1916		T. Burke Limehouse Nights 42: Arab, Lascar [...] Chinky, Hindoo.
1920		Wash. Herald (DC) 30 Jan. 9/6: Was this Chinky the sick person on our train?
1928		R. Carr Rampant Age 122: I’ve the real Limehouse Blues [...] Learned from the Chinkies, those sad China Blues.
1934		H. Roth Call It Sleep (1977) 172: ‘I knew a Chinky,’ he declared. ‘Wot he didn’t hev no hen’s. So he wrote wit’ de mout.’.
1948		Albany Advertiser (Aus.) 23 Sept. 14/3: Chinky, who could have passed for a Chinese almost anywhere.
1945		D. Bolster Roll On My Twelve 23: Those bloomin’ Chinky-chaps in the boat was ’avin’ the time o’ their lives.
1952		Advertiser (Adelaide) 2 Dec. n.p.: Don’t come that way, sir. There are tons of Chinkies between you and us.
1956		C. Lee diary 13 Aug. in Eight Bells & Top Masts (2001) 8: There’s all these Chinkies looking down laughing.
1962		S. Longstreet Flesh Peddlers (1964) 74: He wasn’t a chinky really.
1973		(con. 1940s–60s) Hogbotel & ffuckes ‘The Bastard from the Bush’ in Snatches and Lays 82: Would you stoush a swell or Chinkee, slit his garret with a stone?
1982		P. Redmond Tucker and Co 35: Chinky; paki; wog and so on and so on.
1993		I. Welsh Trainspotting 251: Two million Chinkies. Two million ay the buggers.
2002		(con. 1914–18) M. McGrath Silvertown 43: She’d see women streaming from the munitions factories with faces yellow from picric acid, and the local boys [...] shouting ‘Chinkie Chinkie Chinkie’.
2006		Guardian 14 Feb. 7: In February 2004 [she] referred to a Chinese colleague as ‘Chinky’.

2. a derog. term for a Chinese restaurant.

1986		J. Sullivan ‘Tea for Three’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] Why don’t we take him down the chinky, that should cheer him up, eh Rodders?
1993		I. Welsh Trainspotting 252: I thought of the term ‘Chinky’ and visualised loads of aluminium cartons of half-eaten food.
2000		N. Griffiths Grits 59: Went to-a Chinkie’s on-a prom, best fuckin chips in-a town, mun.
2013		T. Black Ringer [ebook] n.p.: I tells it to [...] take a trip to the Chinkies: the only place open at this time of the night [...] Only two things safe to get off Chinkies; not risking the chicken, which every cunt knows is really cat or rat or that.

3. a (take-away) Chinese meal.

1983		New Society 10 Mar. 384/3: A Chinese meal is a ‘chinkie,’ food in general is ‘sustenance’.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 174: I can have a Chinky sent up, real good gear, delivered.