octoroon

American

[ok-tuh-roon] / ˌɒk təˈrun /

noun

Older Use: Offensive.

a person having one-eighth Black ancestry, with one Black great-grandparent; the offspring of a quadroon and a white person.

octoroon British

/ ˌɒktəˈruːn /

noun

a person having one quadroon and one White parent and therefore having one-eighth Black blood Compare quadroon

"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

Etymology

Origin of octoroon

An Americanism dating back to 1855–60; octo- + (quad)roon

Compare meaning

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

octoroon vs. mulatto

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Harry Belafonte recently offered him the chance to make a movie with Belafonte in the role of Aleksander Pushkin, the octoroon who was Russia's greatest poet.

From Time Magazine Archive

People in mourning and octoroon courtesans took their opera behind latticed screens.

From Time Magazine Archive

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023