quadroon

American  

[kwo-droon] / kwɒˈdrun /

noun

Older Use: Offensive.

1. a person having one-fourth Black ancestry, with one Black grandparent; the offspring of a mulatto and a white person.

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quadroon British  

/ kwɒˈdruːn /

noun

1. the offspring of a Mulatto and a White person; a person who is one-quarter Black

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Etymology

Origin of quadroon

First recorded in 1640–50; alteration of Spanish cuarterón, derivative of cuarto “a fourth,” from Latin quartus; see -oon

Explanation

In the 19th century, the term quadroon was used to describe a person who was one-quarter black and three-quarters white. In other words, a quadroon had one grandparent of African descent. The word quadroon is seen today as being deeply offensive and completely obsolete. In the southern states of the US, particularly before the Civil War, a white person might have used the term to describe someone of mixed race, particularly if the person had one white and one racially mixed parent. The word comes from the Spanish cuarteron, "one who has a fourth," from cuarto, "fourth."

Example Sentences

In Europe, after living at the seashore with the red-haired Swinburne, she took refuge in Paris at the house of that famed, fatherly quadroon, Alexandre Dumas Sr. Her poems, edited by Swinburne, were published, praised.

From Time Magazine Archive

At the same time the Doctor disguised from the young strangers this interchange of meanings by an audible question to the quadroon.

From Dr. Sevier by Cable, George Washington

On reaching the floor below he was afforded a view through an open door into a large room, lighted with many lamps, where a quadroon dance, or “society ball,” was in progress.

From The Strollers by Fisher, Harrison

Her complexion is Indian; but a crimson hue, struggling through the brown upon her cheek, gives that pictured expression to her countenance which may be observed in the quadroon of the West Indies.

From The Scalp Hunters by Stewart, F.A.

This cottage was hired by Horatio Green for Clotel, and the quadroon girl soon found herself in her new home.

From Clotel; or, the President's Daughter by Brown, William Wells