mulatto

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   offensive and dated: a historical racial label for a person of mixed Black and white ancestry, especially someone with one Black and one white parent

   The historical novel uses mulatto as a dated racial label, not as neutral modern vocabulary.

Borrowed in the sixteenth century from Spanish or Portuguese mulato, traditionally traced to mulo 'mule', from Latin mulus. The racial label arose in colonial classification systems and is now generally dated and offensive in English.

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