octoroon
(ɒktəˈruːn)
[A non-etymological formation from L. octo eight, after quadroon (in which the suffix is -oon).]
A person having one-eighth Negro blood; the offspring of a quadroon and a white; sometimes used of other mixed races.
| 1861 D. Boucicault (title) The Octoroon. 1862 J. E. Cairnes Revol. Amer. 17 The mulattoes, quadroons and octoroons..who now form so large a proportion of the whole enslaved population of the South. 1864 Webster, Octaroon, see Octoroon. 1891 Times 8 Jan. 9/3 The mulatto, the quadroon, and the octoroon are chiefly products of the slavery period. |