Main Entry: Cre·ole

Pronunciation: \ˈkrē-ˌōl\

Function: noun

Etymology: French créole, from Spanish criollo, from Portuguese crioulo white person born in the colonies

Date: 1737

1 : a person of European descent born especially in the West Indies or Spanish America
2 : a white person descended from early French or Spanish settlers of the United States Gulf states and preserving their speech and culture
3 : a person of mixed French or Spanish and black descent speaking a dialect of French or Spanish
4 a : a language evolved from pidginized French that is spoken by blacks in southern Louisiana b : haitian c not capitalized : a language that has evolved from a pidgin but serves as the native language of a speech community