Buddhism
Scholar Isabelle Onians asserts that although "the Mahayana ... very occasionally referred contemptuously to earlier Buddhism as the Hinayana, the Inferior Way," "the preponderance of this name in the secondary literature is far out of proportion to occurrences in the Indian texts." She notes that the term Sravakayana was "the more politically correct and much more usual" term used by Mahayanists. Jonathan Silk has argued that the term "Hinayana" was used to refer to whomever one wanted to criticize on any given occasion, and did not refer to any definite grouping of Buddhists.
What term was more politically correct term for the word Hinayana?
Sravakayana
She notes that the term Sravakayana was "the more politically correct and much more usual" term used by Mahayanists.
Hinayana