an offensive name for a European refugee after World War II
reffo in American English
(ˈrefou)
nounWord forms: plural-fos
Austral informal
an immigrant, esp. one who has been in Australia only a short time
Word origin
[1940–45; ref(ugee) + -o]This word is first recorded in the period 1940–45. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: Rh factor, black box, set-aside, snorkel, zap-o is a suffix occurring as the final element in informal shortenings of nouns (ammo; combo; condo; limo; promo); -o also forms nouns, usually derogatory, for persons or things exemplifying or associatedwith that specified by the base noun or adjective (cheapo; pinko; sicko; weirdo; wino)