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The combining form –splain is used like a suffix meaning “to explain or comment on something in a condescending or overconfident manner.” It is occasionally used in slang terms. In most instances, the first element of the word describes the perspective of the “explainer,” e.g., mansplain.

The form –splain comes from the word mansplain, meaning “to explain something to a woman in a condescending, overconfident, and often inaccurate or oversimplified manner, typically to a woman already knowledgeable about the topic.” The form –splain in this sense is extracted from explain.

An example of a word that features –splain is whitesplain, “to comment on the minority experience or explain racism to a person of color in a condescending or blaming way.”

The white– part of the word here refers to white people. As we have seen, –splain means “to explain in a condescending manner.” Whitesplain literally means “white people explaining [racism] in a condescending manner.”

What are some words that use the combining form –splain?

• Blacksplain
• gaysplain
• Jewsplain
• ladysplain
• richsplain
• womansplain

What are some other forms that –splain may be commonly confused with?

• -speak
• -sphere
• -sploitation

Given the meaning of –splain, what does richsplain mean?