Antedating of "Brainwashing"

[W Brewer]

WB:  My missionary dictionary (1943) doesn't list <xi3-nao3>.
My PRC/CPC dictionary (1978) doesn't include <xi-nao>.  OTOH, my ROC/KMT
dictionaries ('72, '78, 2000) do have <xi-nao> (lit. wash-brain) meaning
<to brainwash, indoctrinate> vt & <brainwashing> n., connecting it
negatively to the Communist Bandits.
     In general, <xi3> + BODY-PART has positive connotations:  <wash-heart>
(reform); <wash-hand> (turn over a new leaf); <wash-ear> (contritely
listen); <wash-kidney> (dialysis). Basic senses of <xi3> are (wash, rinse,
cleanse, clean, clear).
     Probably, the Communists coined <xi-nao> with all of the positive
associations of the other <xi> + BODY PART expressions: a cleansing of the
mind, by purging allegiance to capitalist greed and averting all desire for
zombie consumerism. The Capitalists borrowed this innocuous word and
weaponized it.

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