Fustee
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A person who is of 1/16 black ancestry, the child of a mustee and a white. dated, historical, offensive, uncommon
"The several removes from a black are as follows:—The mongrel, the offspring of a black and a mulatto; the mulatto, the offspring of a black and a white; the mustee, the offspring of a mulatto and a white; the fustee, the offspring of a mustee and a white; and the dustee, the offspring of a fustee and a white. This last gradation is the connecting link between the degraded children of Ham, and the descendants of his more honoured brethren."
- 2 A caravel or other (Spanish) ship. rare
"Figueros, the ambassador, has been instructed to provide you with a fustee or caravel for your passage to Barcelona. […] The fustees going to Marseilles, and being admitted into that port, king Francis redeemed for 700 ducats the Muscovite ambassador now residing at the French court, whilst Moorish and Turkish pirates are allowed shelter in French ports."
Example
More examples"The several removes from a black are as follows:—The mongrel, the offspring of a black and a mulatto; the mulatto, the offspring of a black and a white; the mustee, the offspring of a mulatto and a white; the fustee, the offspring of a mustee and a white; and the dustee, the offspring of a fustee and a white. This last gradation is the connecting link between the degraded children of Ham, and the descendants of his more honoured brethren."
Etymology
Unclear. The 1911 Century Dictionary suggests it is a variation of mustee (the ending in any case matches mustee/mestee and costee, as well as dustee, which Century suggests might in turn be a variation of fustee). Perhaps compare fusty, or fustic, a yellow dye?
From a Spanish word related to fusta or fuste.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.