Origin: Greek suffix -ist
Racist has 5 different meanings across 2 categories:
A person who believes in or supports racism; a person who believes that a particular race is superior to others and discriminates against other races.
"The racist manager refused to hire qualified candidates because he believed his own race was inherently superior."
In plain English: A racist is someone who believes that people of different races are inherently inferior to their own group and treats them unfairly because of it.
"Many people joined together to protest against racism in their town."
Usage: Use the noun form "racist" when referring specifically to an individual who holds discriminatory beliefs about racial superiority, rather than using it as an adjective to describe actions or systems alone. This term directly identifies a person's ideology and behavior in contrast to related concepts like prejudice, which may not necessarily involve organized discrimination based on race.
discriminatory especially on the basis of race or religion
"The racist policy barred immigrants from certain religions from entering the country."
Constituting, exhibiting, advocating or pertaining to racism.
"The organization was shut down after it was revealed that its leadership had posted racist content online."
In plain English: Racist describes someone who believes that people of different races are unequal and treats them unfairly because of their skin color or background.
"The racist comments he made hurt many people in our community."
The word "racist" emerged in the 1930s as a shortened form of "racialist," which had been used since around 1910. It was created by combining "race" with the suffix "-ist" to describe someone who holds beliefs based on race, eventually replacing its earlier synonym while mirroring similar terms like the French raciste.