A pitcher in baseball who throws beanballs, or historically, a slur (use with caution; primarily historical).
From 'bean' plus the agent suffix '-er' (meaning 'one who does'), following standard English patterns like 'runner,' 'pitcher,' 'singer' to denote a person performing an action.
This word has complicated history. In early baseball (1910s-1920s), 'beaner' simply meant a pitcher who threw at batters' heads. Later it became weaponized as a slur. It's a reminder that word meanings and associations can shift dramatically with social context.
While primarily a slur against Latinx people (from bean-eating stereotype), the gendered use 'beaner' in baseball refers to a hitting pitcher—masculine aggression coding. The slur itself often conflates ethnicity with inferior labor coded as masculine.
Avoid entirely as a slur. In baseball, prefer 'bean pitch' or 'throwing at batter' to remove person-directed language.
["bean pitch","knockdown pitch","inside pitch"]
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