English
quadroon
Quadroon comes from Spanish cuarterón ‘¾ white, a child of a European and a mestizo’, from cuarto ‘one-fourth’, and ultimately from Latin quartus.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEquartus‘one-fourth’
- Spanishc. 1500–presentcuarto‘one-fourth’
- Spanish, derivedc. 1500–presentcuarterón‘¾ white, a child of a European and a mestizo’
- Englishearliest quotation 1842quadroon
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history not traced here.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEquartus‘one-fourth’
- Spanishc. 1500–presentcuarto‘one-fourth’
- Spanish, derivedc. 1500–presentcuarterón‘¾ white, a child of a European and a mestizo’
- Englishearliest quotation 1842quadroon
Earliest quotation: 1842, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: “Before them, with her face upraised, In timid attitude,…”
Linked words
through Latin quartus ‘one-fourth’
Today it means
noun A person considered three-fourths white, having one non-white grandparent.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin quartus / quadroon