Exploring the history and experiences of mixed heritage persons and inter-racial relationships across the world
Exploring the history and experiences of mixed heritage persons and inter-racial relationships across the world
Many languages have evolved names for mixed heritage people in their societies, some words being borrowed from other cultures and languages. Some of the terms have derogatory meaning in one part of the world and are entirely acceptable and proudly borne in other parts of the world.
Below is a table of terms used to describe some of mixed heritage people. It is interesting to note that some of the terms refer to actual ethnic groups where the offspring of two members of the same group are still regarded as mixed heritage.
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Multi-Racial |
Politically correct terms being used to describe people of two or multiple race or heritage. |
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Creole |
Used in many different ways and not always necessarily but usually referring to ethnic groups of people of mixed heritage |
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Mixed-Blood |
Sometimes used in place of mixed race. Considered derogatory by some. Originally used in the USA and Canada with for offspring of fur traders and native Indians. |
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Half-caste |
A term used to describe people of mixed race or ethnicity and now regarded as a derogatory term in most parts of the world. The term originates from the Indian caste system, where a person of 'lesser' or half-caste would be deemed to be of a 'lower class'. The word caste may come from the Portuguese casta meaning race. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-caste |
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Half-breed |
Mixed Native American (especially North American) and white European parentage. Métis is a French term for half-breed. Considered an impolite and rude offensive slur by almost everyone. |
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Amerasian |
Two similar definitions exist but basically a person who has a US Citizen and an Asian parent. Note that a person born to an African-American and an Asian would qualify. Not considered derogatory. |
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Afro-Asian |
Cultural terms that refer to people of mixed Sub-Saharan African or African American and Asian ancestry. |
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Eurasian |
People of mixed Asian and European ancestry. Originally used in British India to refer to those of mixed British and Indian descent |
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Anglo-Indian |
People who have mixed Indian and British ancestry |
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Afro-European |
People of mixed European and African descent, especially in the former European colonies |
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Dougla |
Used in Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago to describe people who are 1st generation Afro-Trinidadian and Tobagonian-Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonian descent. |
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Kaffir |
Derogatory term used in Southern Africa for non-whites particularly African Black but also used against anyone with any Black ancestry. Arabic word meaning non-believer. |
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Hapa |
Asian Pacific Islanders of mixed race heritage. Originally a Hawaiian non-racial word meaning “part” or “mixed” but the current use seems to come from the term ‘hapa haole’ meaning “half foreigner”. |
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Assimilados |
Portuguese, meaning the assimilated – though not strictly a term for mixed heritage people – it was applied mainly to mixed race people who received formal education and fully adopted Portuguese customs. It was really relevant in the African provinces/colonies where the European population was rather small. |
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Mestizo |
(Spanish casta/caste) Persons with one European parent and one Indian parent. |
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Castizo |
(Spanish casta/caste) People with one Mestizo parent and one European parent. |
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Cholo |
(Spanish casta/caste) Persons with one Indian parent and one Mestizo parent. Also used as a derogatory slur. |
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Mulatto |
(Spanish casta/caste) Persons of the first generation of a European and Black mix. |
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Pardo |
Brazilian Portuguese for Brown people. Used in Brazil to cover a variety of mixed heritages. |
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Caboclo |
A person of mixed Brazilian Indian and European or African ancestry, a specific type of mestiço. |
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Morisco |
(Spanish casta/caste) Person of Mulatto and European parents. |
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Quadroon |
(Spanish casta/caste) Person of mixed-race with one-fourth African and three-fourths Caucasian ancestry |
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Octoroon |
(Spanish casta/caste) One African great-grandparent and seven Caucasian great-grandparents. |
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Zambo |
(Spanish casta/caste) Persons who were of mixed Indian and Black ancestry. |
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Sambo |
Person with mixed Amerindian and African heritage (see zambo) . Also used less specifically for a black person in the United States and the United Kingdom as a racial slur. |
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Chino |
(Spanish casta/caste) Someone of Mulatto and Indian parents. |
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Black Indian |
In the USA, people of African-American descent, usually with significant Native American ancestry but have strong Native American culture, social and historical traditions. |
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Cafres |
People born in Réunion of Malagasy and/or African often mixed origins. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cafres |
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Hafu |
Japanese for somebody who is ethnically half Japanese that is biracial. The word hafu comes from the English word "half" indicating half foreign-ness. |
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Marabou |
Haitian term for the offspring of a person of mixed race: black African/European and East Indian ancestry, born in Haiti. |
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Redbone |
A term used in much of the southern United States and by West Indians implying race mixture. |
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Rhineland Bastards |
A derogatory term used in Nazi Germany to describe Afro-German people who were fathered by French colonial troops occupying the Rhineland after World War I |
| Zerbadee |
A derogatory term for mixed descendants of Indian males and Burmese females in Burma |
| Kosian Onnurian |
A person of mixed Korean and non-Korean parents - usually used to refer to the offspring of a Korean father and non-Korean mother usually other Asian. The term Kosian was originally used by intercultural families to refer to themselves but is now is considered offensive by some who prefer to identify themselves as Korean and Amnesty International has claimed that the word represents racial discrimination. |
| Chindian |
A Chindian is a person of both Chinese and Indian ancestry. There are a considerable number of Chindians in Malaysia and Singapore. |
| Muladi Muwallad |
A word still used in the Arab world to refer to people with Arab fathers and non-Arab mothers but historically also used to refer to offspring of Muslim converts. |
| Luk kreung | A luk kreung literally "child half", is a colloquial reference in the Thai language to a person who is of mixed Thai and European origins. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luk_khrueng |
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Ethnic Groups (historically mixed heritage communities) |
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Siddis |
An ethnic group in India - descendants of slaves, sailors and servants and from East Africa |
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Sheedis |
An ethnic group in Pakistan - descendants of slaves, sailors and servants and from East Africa |
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Sri Lanka Kaffir |
An ethnic group in Sri Lanka who are partially descended from 16th century Portuguese traders and the African slaves similar to groups known in Pakistan as Sheedis and in India as Siddis. |
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Burgher |
An Eurasian ethnic group, historically from Sri Lanka, consisting for the most part of male-line descendants of European colonists and local women |
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Métis |
An indigenous ethnic groups of Canada and the USA who trace their descent to mixed European and First Nations that is Native Indian parentage. Word of French origin. |
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Tri-racial |
Used in the USA to describes populations thought to be of mixed European, sub-Saharan African/African American, and Native American ancestry. |
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Melungeon |
One of the Tri-racial groups (USA). Traditionally considered an insult, a label applied to Appalachian whites who were by appearance or reputation of mixed-race ancestry. Melungeon ancestors are regarded as having been classified in the past as "mulattos", that is, descendants of white Europeans and Africans. |
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Carmel Indians |
A group of Melungeons (USA) who have lived in Highland County in the state of Ohio. They are descendants and relatives of the Melungeons of Kentucky. |
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Chestnut Ridge People |
A mixed-race or "tri-racial isolate" community residing in north-central West Virginia, USA. They are often called Guineas (a pejorative term). Some of them have identified themselves as Melungeon. |
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Red Bone |
An ethnic Métis or tri-racial group found in South Carolina, USA |
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Shirazi |
Ethnic group belived to be descendants from Persian traders who settled along the Swahili Coast |
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Garifuna |
An ethnic group of mixed ancestry descendants of Carib, Arawak and West African people who live primarily in Central America. Garinagu (plural) |
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Kristang |
A creole Eurasian ethnic group of people of mixed Portuguese and Malaccan descent based in Malaysia and Singapore. Many people of this ethnicity also have Chinese, Indian and other Asian heritage. |
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Lemba |
An ethnic group in southern Africa who claim a common descent and belonging to the Jewish people. |
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Mardijker |
An ethnic community in modern Jakarta, Indonesia made up of descendants of freed slaves of Indian ancestry, and speak a Portuguese patois. |
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Miskitos |
An African-Indigenous mixture group of Native Americans in Central America. |
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Basters |
Ethnic group who are the descendants of the Cape Colony Dutch and indigenous African women. They largely live in Namibia and are similar to Coloured or Griqua people in South Africa. The name is derived from the Dutch word for ‘bastard’ or ‘crossbreed'. |
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Griqua |
Ethnic group of people who originated from the European colonists in the Cape and the Khoikhoi similar to the Basters |
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Coloured |
An ethnic group of mixed-race people |
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Goffal |
Cultural term used by Zimbabwean coloureds to describe themselves |
| Fernandino |
Creole, multi-ethnic or multi-race populations of Equatorial Guinea and former Spanish Guinea |
| Chitty Indian Peranakans |
A distinctive ethnic group of Tamil people found mainly in Malacca and Singapore, they are descendants of Tamil traders and local Malays and Chinese settlers. They are nearly extinct as they have been mostly assimilated in the local populations. |
| Peranakan Baba-Nyonya |
Means 'descendant' in Malasian/Indonesian. Originally, the Peranakan were mixed-race descendents, part Chinese, part Malay/Indonesian. |
| Black Dutchman Belanda Hitam Zwarte Hollanders |
The mixed descendants of the 3,000 Africans recruited as soldiers through the Dutch colony of Elmina -part of Ghana - during the Indonesian uprising. Many settled and married local Indonesians. |
