Phrase guide

yellow cab

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A yellow taxi, particularly officially licensed taxis in New York City and certain other jurisdictions.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

An Asian woman who sleeps with white men, particularly such Japanese women when regarded as a race traitor.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Japanese, derogatory, ethnic, slur

Examples

  • Despite its ubiquity in 1990s Japanese culture, one telephone survey of 200 people conducted in the New York area did not find a single individual familiar with the use of the term "yellow cab" in reference to Japanese or Asian women.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Originally selected owing to yellow's high visibility and common in horsedrawn form in Paris and London in the 1800s and New York in the 1880s. Now chiefly associated with the yellow automotive taxicabs popularized around New York by the Yellow Taxicab Co. In reference to sexually available Asian women, a calque of Japanese イエローキャブ (ierō kyabu), from English yellow cab and popularized by Shōko Ieda's 1991 novel by that name, from its female characters' supposed "yellow" skin and the notion they provided "rides" to the general public.