Octoroon
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Someone having one-eighth black ancestry. dated, historical
"Yet the least drop of Spanish blood, if it be only of quadroon or octoroon, is sufficient to raise them from the rank of slaves, and entitle them to a suit of clothes—boots, hat, cloak, spurs, long knife, and all complete, though coarse and dirty as may be,—and to call themselves Españolos, and to hold property, if they can get any."
- 2 an offspring of a quadroon and a white parent; a person who is one-eighth black wordnet
- 3 Someone having 1/64th black ancestry: the child of a quintoon and a white man. dated, historical
"Quintoon: child of mustiphini and white male Unspeakable: child of mustiphini and white woman Octoroon: child of quintoon and white man Unspeakable: child of quintoon and white woman"
Example
More examples"Yet the least drop of Spanish blood, if it be only of quadroon or octoroon, is sufficient to raise them from the rank of slaves, and entitle them to a suit of clothes—boots, hat, cloak, spurs, long knife, and all complete, though coarse and dirty as may be,—and to call themselves Españolos, and to hold property, if they can get any."
Etymology
Borrowed from Spanish octorón; compare quadroon from cuarterón (“quadroon”).
More for "octoroon"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.