yellow cab

Meanings

1. A yellow taxi, particularly officially licensed taxis in New York City and certain other jurisdictions.
2. An Asian woman who sleeps with white men, particularly such Japanese women when regarded as a race traitor.

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.