Animals, or people who act like animals by being cruel and violent without thinking.
From Old French 'brute' and Latin 'brutus' (heavy, dull, irrational). The word entered Middle English around 1300 and originally just meant 'animal,' later gaining the sense of savage or cruel person.
Aristotle called humans 'rational animals' to distinguish us from 'brutes'—but neuroscience shows our rational brain is surprisingly small. We're not brutes because we're rational; we have to work hard to control our animal impulses.
Historically applied to colonized and enslaved peoples, and to men of lower socioeconomic status, often infantilizing them as less rational or civilized—a tool of dehumanization.
Use only for actual animal behavior or in historical critique of the slur itself. Avoid applying to any group of people.
["aggressive","violent","unrefined"]
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