Definition, Meaning & Synonyms
octoroon
Noun
ˌɒk.təˈruːn
Definition
A person of one-eighth African ancestry, especially used in the context of historical classifications of race in the United States.
Examples
- In the 19th century, society often treated an octoroon differently than those who were fully white or fully black.
- The character in the novel was portrayed as an octoroon, struggling with her identity in a divided community.
Meaning
The term ‘octoroon’ is derived from a racial classification system that sought to categorize people based on the fraction of their ancestry that was African. It typically describes someone who has one great-great-grandparent of African descent.
Synonyms
- Mixed-race person
- Biracial (though not precisely synonymous)
