Antedating of "Brainwashing"

[Shapiro, Fred]

The OED's first use of the word "brainwashing" is an October 7, 1950 newspaper article by Edward Hunter.  However, various sources refer to an earlier usage by Hunter, an article titled "'Brain-Washing' Tactics Force Chinese into Ranks of Communist Party," Miami News, September 24, 1950.  Searches of newspaper databases reveal that there was a different Chinese Communist sense of the term going back at least to the beginning of 1950; in this sense "brain washing" meant publicly confessing one's faults.  Even earlier, non-Communist senses of "brain washing" can be found in searches of American newspapers.

Fred Shapiro

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