half-caste

English

Etymology

From half- +‎ caste.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

half-caste (not comparable)

1. (derogatory) Of mixed racial descent.
   • 2021 November 7, Claire [G.] Coleman, “Not quite blak enough: ‘The people who think I am too white to be Aboriginal are all white’”, in The Guardian‎^[2], archived from the original on 3 December 2021:

     It was the racist, settler colonialism that created whiteness, that created blackness, half-caste, quarter-caste, octoroon, that saw mixed-race people as a third race.

Usage notes

In 2006 British anthropological surveys by Peter J. Aspinall et al, out of 75 general population respondents who identified as “mixed race”, and one who did not, seven found the term “half-caste” offensive; and out of 311 student respondents who identified as “mixed race”, and 15 who did not, 60 found it offensive.

Noun

half-caste (plural half-castes)

1. (derogatory) A person of mixed racial descent.
   • 2021 November 7, Claire [G.] Coleman, “Not quite blak enough: ‘The people who think I am too white to be Aboriginal are all white’”, in The Guardian‎^[3], archived from the original on 3 December 2021:

     AO Neville, the Protector of Aborigines in Western Australia until the 1930s, railed against the risk of the creation of a ‘third race’ of half-castes.

See also

• mixed-race
• half-breed