Caucasian

[ kaw-key-zhuhn, -shuhn, -kazh-uhn, -kash- ]

adjective

1. Anthropology. (no longer in technical use) of, relating to, or characteristic of one of the traditional racial divisions of humankind, marked by fair to dark skin, straight to tightly curled hair, and light to very dark eyes, and originally inhabiting Europe, parts of North Africa, western Asia, and India.
2. white ( def 3 ):

   a brown-haired Caucasian female with a tattoo on her left shoulder.

3. of or relating to the Caucasus mountain range.
4. Linguistics. of or related to the non-Indo-European, non-Turkic languages of the Caucasus region.

noun

1. Anthropology. (no longer in technical use) a member of the peoples traditionally classified as the Caucasian race, especially those peoples having light to fair skin.
2. a white person:

   The chef at this awesome new Indian restaurant is actually a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian from Montana.

3. a native of Caucasia.

Caucasian

/ kɔːˈkeɪzɪən; -ʒən; kɔːˈkeɪzɪk /

adjective

1. See Caucasoid
   old-fashioned.
   another word for Caucasoid
2. of or relating to the Caucasus

noun

1. a White person; a Caucasoid
2. a native or inhabitant of Caucasia
3. any of three possibly related families of languages spoken in the Caucasus: North-West Caucasian, including Circassian and Abkhaz, North-East Caucasian , including Avar, and South Caucasian including Georgian

Usage

The word Caucasian is very widely used in the US to refer to people of European origin or people who are White, even though the original classification was broader than this

Other Words From

• non-Cau·casian adjective noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of Caucasian¹

First recorded in 1800–10; from Latin Caucas(eus), Caucas(ius), derivative of Caucasus, from Greek Kaúkasos; + -ian adjective suffix; Caucasus, -ian

Example Sentences

The thing is, if you’re Caucasian, you’ve seen this exact knotty version of yourself reflected on screen, and if you’re not, you probably haven’t.

From The Daily Beast

People of Caucasian descent constitute less than 15 percent of the world’s population, yet they make up 78 percent of human subjects in genome research.

From Ozy

When the client request for a private school advertisement hit her desk, Le’Shae Robinson thought, Here comes another Caucasian-only order.

From Fortune

Still, the exposed skin on my face and hands felt drawn and hot, stinging, a fire of whiteness, a burning Caucasian husk.

From The Daily Beast

For the Caucasian minority in prison, white supremacy is still the sub-culture of choice.

From The Daily Beast

According to Variety, casting was delayed by the question of whether or not Episode VII would have a Caucasian lead.

From The Daily Beast

Some anthropologists thought he looked like a Caucasian actor from Star Trek.

From The Daily Beast

Here we have a country—Russia—where hunting for gays and for northern Caucasian facial features is becoming a national sport.

From The Daily Beast

A very good quality of tobacco is grown in the trans-Caucasian provinces; it also flourishes well in the Southern provinces.

From Project Gutenberg

First, the Egyptians must be named, Caucasian races not autochthonically at home in Libya.

From Project Gutenberg

Second, his prognathism, or projection of the jaws—his index of facial angle being about 70, as compared with the Caucasian 82.

From Project Gutenberg

The Tartars belong more especially to two distinct races, the Caucasian and the Mongolian.

From Project Gutenberg

In his hospitality the Caucasian vies with the Arab of the desert.

From Project Gutenberg