mestizo

[ me-stee-zoh, mi- ]

/ mɛˈsti zoʊ, mɪ- /

Save This Word!

noun, plural mes·ti·zos, mes·ti·zoes.

a person of mixed racial or ethnic ancestry, especially, in Latin America, of mixed Indigenous and European descent or, in the Philippines, of mixed Indigenous and foreign descent.See also mestiza.

COMPARE MEANINGS

Click for a side-by-side comparison of meanings. Use the word comparison feature to learn the differences between similar and commonly confused words.

QUIZ

WILL YOU SAIL OR STUMBLE ON THESE GRAMMAR QUESTIONS?

Smoothly step over to these common grammar mistakes that trip many people up. Good luck!

Question 1 of 7

Fill in the blank: I can’t figure out _____ gave me this gift.

who

whom

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of mestizo

First recorded in 1580–90; from Spanish, noun use of adjective mestizo, from Vulgar Latin mixtīcius (unrecorded) “mixed”

Words nearby mestizo

mess with, messy, mestee, mester, mestiza, mestizo, mestome, mestranol, Meŝtrović, Mesurol, met

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use mestizo in a sentence

An Indian woman with a mestizo baby in her arms stood in the doorway when the three men reached the hut.
The Five Arrows|Allan Chase
The child, which was evidently dying of anæmia, was a mestizo.
The Locusts' Years|Mary Helen Fee
One was a Spanish mestizo, 66 were Chinese half-castes and 524 were indians.
The Katipunan|J. Brecknock Watson (AKA Francis St. Clair)
We may say, then, that in Palenque every Maya baby below ten months of age was sacral spotted, and that no Mestizo baby was.
In Indian Mexico (1908)|Frederick Starr

The Mestizo arose to his feet, and addressed himself, not to the emissaries of the Republic, but to his own supporters.
The Harlequin Opal, Vol. 2 (of 3)|Fergus Hume

British Dictionary definitions for mestizo

mestizo

/ (mɛˈstiːzəʊ, mɪ-) /

noun plural -zos or -zoes

a person of mixed parentage, esp the offspring of a Spanish American and an American Indian

Derived forms of mestizo

mestiza (mɛˈstiːzə), fem n

Word Origin for mestizo

C16: from Spanish, ultimately from Latin miscēre to mix

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012