Pinoy is a demonym referring to Filipino people in the Philippines as well as overseas Filipinos around the world. Filipinos usually refer to themselves informally as Pinoy or sometimes the feminine Pinay. The word is formed by taking the last four letters of Filipino and adding the diminutive suffix -y. Pinoy was used as self-identification by the first wave of Filipinos coming to the continental United States before World War II and has been used both in a pejorative sense as well as a term of endearment similar to Chicano. Both Pinoy and Pinay are still regarded as derogatory by some Filipinos though they are widely used and gaining mainstream usage.