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octoroon
5 dictionary results for: octoroon
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
oc·to·roon       [ok-tuh-roon] Pronunciation Key
–noun
a person having one-eighth black ancestry; the offspring of a quadroon and a white.

[Origin: 1855–60, Americanism; octo- + (quad)roon]
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
oc·to·roon       (ŏk'tə-rōōn')  Pronunciation Key 
n.   A person whose ancestry is one-eighth Black.


[octo- + (quad)roon.]

Usage Note: The terms mulatto, quadroon, and octoroon originated with the racial policies of European colonizers in the Americas, especially the Spanish. Because civil rights and responsibilities were based directly on the degree of European blood that a person had, such classifications were highly elaborated, and minor distinctions in ancestry were carefully recorded. While these terms have highly precise definitions, in actual practice they were often used based on impressions of skin color rather than definite knowledge of ancestry.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
octoroon 
1861, irregular formation from L. octo "eight" (see eight) + suffix abstracted from quadroon (in which the suffix actually is -oon). Offspring of a quadroon and a white, so called in allusion to having one-eighth Negro blood.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
octoroon

noun
an offspring of a quadroon and a white parent; a person who is one-eighth black 

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Octoroon

Oc`to*roon"\, n. [L. octo eight + -roon, as in quadroon.] The offspring of a quadroon and a white person; a mestee.

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