mulatto

American  

[muh-lat-oh, -lah-toh, myoo-] / məˈlæt oʊ, -ˈlɑ toʊ, mju- /

noun

mulattoes, plural mulattos plural

1. Anthropology. (not in technical use) the offspring of one white parent and one Black parent.

2. Older Use: Offensive. a person who has both Black and white ancestors.

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adjective

1. of a light-brown color.

mulatto British  

/ mjuːˈlætəʊ /

noun

1. a person having one Black and one White parent

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adjective

1. of a light brown colour

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• mulattoes
  plural
• mulattos
  plural

Etymology

Origin of mulatto

First recorded in 1585–95; from Spanish mulato “young mule,” equivalent to mul(o) mule ¹ + -ato of unclear origin

Compare meaning

How does mulatto compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• mestizo vs. mulatto
• octoroon vs. mulatto

Explanation

The noun mulatto is an outdated term for someone with one black parent and one white parent. This word is now considered to be offensive. It was common to describe a person with both black and white ancestry as a mulatto during the period of slavery in the United States. Because of its dehumanizing roots and usage, this word has fallen out of favor. Today, people are more likely to use terms like multiracial or mixed race — or simply to identify their specific cultural and ethnic heritage.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mulatto mulattoes mulattos

“A Lot of Nothing” touches on microaggressions, colorism, class, gentrification, fertility, veganism and the sexual fantasies of a biracial Black woman who is this movie’s update on the tragic mulatto trope.

From New York Times ● Feb. 2, 2023

How does “Passing” try to rebuke the tragic mulatto trope and why do you think Hollywood has historically ignored stories like this?

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2021

Another explanation lies in the easy tendency to lump the story in with the "tragic mulatto" trope, a crude designation defined by works like Fannie Hurst's "Imitation of Life."

From Salon ● Nov. 11, 2021

The question of a person’s “color” first appeared on the 1850 Census, with three options given: white, black or mulatto.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 12, 2021

The other was a light mulatto of average height.

From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers

Most of Luanda's 50,000 Europeans, some of its 50,000 mulattoes, and almost none of its 120,000 Africans responded.

From Time Magazine Archive

On the one side are the prosperous and well-educated blacks and mulattoes with clipped British accents and comfortable homes in places like the Blue Mountains overlooking Kingston.

From Time Magazine Archive

The most solid evidence, according to Dabney, is that there were mulattoes at Monticello and some were related to Jefferson�but were fathered by Jefferson's father-in-law John Wayles and two nephews.

From Time Magazine Archive

The U. S. Census counts 20% of Negroes as mulattoes.

From Time Magazine Archive

I am going to pray to St. Martin de Porres, the patron saint of mulattoes, for our cause in the factory.

From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole

Next were the mulattos, persons of mixed European and African ancestry, and enslaved Africans.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2012

Their ideas grow out of a traditional obsession with the legal status of free blacks and mulattos in the decades before the Civil War.

From Salon ● May 4, 2011

Ms. Hills also spoke of the dance’s African-Argentine roots among the local mulattos and immigrants, principally in Rio de la Plata, a Buenos Aires suburb.

From New York Times ● Aug. 10, 2010

Population: Spanish whites 950,000, mulattos 300,000, blacks 50,000.

From Time Magazine Archive

Let us not forget that since San Domingo has become free there are in the whole archipelago of the West Indies more free negroes and mulattos than slaves.

From Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 — Volume 3 by Humboldt, Alexander von