Historically, vernacular speech in Cabinda has also been called Fiote, from m'fiôte, a word meaning "black" or "colored person.""Cabinda: Society – Language Matters." in International Spotlight: Angola, A special advertising site produced by washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 15 January 2010. Fiote referred to all local languages of Cabinda "because they were the languages spoken by black people." The term was also used to describe the inhabitants themselves and as an adjective meaning native or indigenous ("everything that was not of European origin was labeled 'fiote' – fiote papaya, mango fiote, potato fiote, etc."Cabindês, Fiote ou Ibinda: Língua Nacional de Cabinda." Retrieved 15 January 2010. ). However, this term is considered derogatory and is eschewed by Cabindans. "Cabindans do not like being called Fiote...[because] the word was used by the Portuguese to describe everything that was inferior – a bad road would be called a fiote road and bad food would be called fiote food." Some argue that the language should be called *Cabindese.
