quadroon
[kwo-droon]
- a person having one-fourth black ancestry, with one black grandparent; the offspring of a mulatto and a white person.
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Compare octoroon.
Origin of quadroon
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for quadroon
Historical Examples
He turned his glance to the quadroon; she understood it; the patient was seriously ill.
Dr. SevierGeorge W. Cable
He was probably regarded as a quadroon who had been accepted by the white race.
I saw the Quadroon approach this with silent tread, as if meditating some design.
The QuadroonMayne Reid
I was satisfied that the disappearance of the quadroon would be at once attributed to me.
The QuadroonMayne Reid
My conversation was with the Creole, my thoughts dwelt upon the Quadroon.
The QuadroonMayne Reid
quadroon
- the offspring of a Mulatto and a White person; a person who is one-quarter Black
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Word Origin
C18: from Spanish cuarterón, from cuarto quarter, from Latin quartus
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for quadroon
n.
1707, "offspring of a white and a mulatto," from Spanish cuarteron (used chiefly of the offspring of a European and a mestizo), literally "one who has a fourth" (Negro blood), from cuarto "fourth," from Latin quartus (see quart), so called because he or she has one quarter African blood. Altered by influence of words in quadr-. There also was some use in 19c. of quintroon (from Spanish quinteron) "one who is fifth in descent from a Negro; one who has one-sixteenth Negro blood."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper