據《牛津高階英漢雙解詞典》：ghetto:1、 a area of a city where many people of the same race or background live, separately from the rest of the population. Ghettos are often crowded, with bad living conditions. (相同種族或背景的人的）聚居區；貧民區 2 、the area of a town where Jews were forced to live in the past（昔日城市中的）猶太人居住區slum: a area of a city that is very poor and where the houses are dirty and in bad condition貧民窟，棚屋區就“貧民區”這個意思來講，ghetto和slum意思很接近。區別在於：在一個ghetto中居住的人是同一種族或背景的，而且很擁擠；ghetto是與城市中的其他區域是隔開的。而slum沒有這層意思。
據《牛津高階英漢雙解詞典》：ghetto:1、 a area of a city where many people of the same race or background live, separately from the rest of the population. Ghettos are often crowded, with bad living conditions. (相同種族或背景的人的）聚居區；貧民區 2 、the area of a town where Jews were forced to live in the past（昔日城市中的）猶太人居住區slum: a area of a city that is very poor and where the houses are dirty and in bad condition貧民窟，棚屋區就“貧民區”這個意思來講，ghetto和slum意思很接近。區別在於：在一個ghetto中居住的人是同一種族或背景的，而且很擁擠；ghetto是與城市中的其他區域是隔開的。而slum沒有這層意思。