miscegenation

American  

[mi-sej-uh-ney-shuhn, mis-i-juh-] / mɪˌsɛdʒ əˈneɪ ʃən, ˌmɪs ɪ dʒə- /

noun

1. marriage or cohabitation between two people from different racial groups, especially, in the U.S., between a Black person and a white person.

   In 1967 the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that state laws prohibiting miscegenation were unconstitutional.

2. sexual relations between two people from different racial backgrounds resulting in the conception of a mixed-race child.

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miscegenation British  

/ ˌmɪsɪdʒɪˈneɪʃən, ˌmɪsɪdʒɪˈnɛtɪk /

noun

1. interbreeding of races, esp where differences of pigmentation are involved

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Other Word Forms

• antimiscegenation
  noun
• miscegenetic
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of miscegenation

Irregular formation from Latin miscē(re) “to mix” + Latin gen(us) “race, stock, species” + English -ation noun suffix; allegedly coined by U.S. journalist David Goodman Croly (1829–89) in a pamphlet published anonymously in 1864; see -ation

Explanation

If a country has laws against miscegenation, that means they have laws against people of different races having children. If a Chinese person and an Ecuadorian person have a child, that would be considered miscegenation. Miscegenation combines the Latin miscere, meaning “mix,” with genu, meaning “race,” plus the suffix -ation, which describes an action or process. So miscegenation means "a mixing of racial groups," like when people of different races live together or have kids together. If you read about the history of the American Civil War, you'll surely come across this word, which only came into English around that time. It's associated with offensive racist ideas of racial purity, so be careful using it.

Example Sentences

After all, through most of American history, miscegenation was illegal in many places and frowned upon in most.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 28, 2022

So-called miscegenation, the romance between Meg and her white boyfriend, was not allowed on screen, a rule that was relaxed only slightly for the real Pinky, made two years later.

From The Guardian • May 21, 2020

Earlier generations linked dances such as the lindy hop and the jitterbug to miscegenation and truancy and general wildness; they outlawed dancing altogether.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 21, 2020

In March 1948 — six months before the Supreme Court of California declared the state’s miscegenation ban unconstitutional — she married a man with German ancestry.

From New York Times • May 17, 2019

White immigrants, in contrast, were not so easy to identify and separate, thus amplifying the anxieties of ethnic contamination and miscegenation in the 1920s.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee