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octoroon

[ok-tuh-roon]

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.

Nearby words

  1. octomerous,
  2. octometer,
  3. octonary,
  4. octopod,
  5. octopus,
  6. octosyllabic,
  7. octosyllable,
  8. octroi,
  9. octuple,
  10. octuplet

Origin of octoroon

An Americanism dating back to 1855–60; octo- + (quad)roon
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
British Dictionary definitions for octoroon

octoroon

octaroon

noun

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

Word Origin for octoroon

C19: octo- + -roon as in 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
Word Origin and History for octoroon

octoroon

n.

1861, irregular formation from Latin octo "eight" (see eight) + suffix abstracted from quadroon (in which the suffix actually is -oon). Offspring of a quadroon and a white; so called for having one-eighth Negro blood.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper