Nip is an ethnic slur against people of Japanese descent and origin, similar to the ethnic slur Jap.
The word Nip is an abbreviation from Nippon, the Japanese name for Japan.
The earliest occurrence of the ethnic slur was probably in the Time magazine of 5 January 1942. The American, British, and Australian entry of the Pacific Ocean theatre of World War II heightened the use of racial slurs against the Japanese, such as Jap and Nip. The word Nip became a frequently-used slang word amongst the British Armed Forces. The 1942 Royal Air Force journal made numerous references to the Japanese as Nips, even making puns such as "there's a nip in the air". As part of American wartime propaganda, caricatures and slurs (including Nip) against the Japanese diffused into entertainment, such as exemplified by the Warner Bros.' cartoon Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips (1944). In General Kenney Reports: A Personal History of the Pacific War (1949), George Kenney made racial statements about the Japanese, remarking for example that "Nips are just vermin to be exterminated".