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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.

See Examples For:

octoroon

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

From Time Magazine Archive

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

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