octoroon

noun

oc·​to·​roon ˌäk-tə-ˈrün How to pronounce octoroon (audio)
plural octoroons
dated, offensive
: a person of one-eighth Black ancestry

Word History

Etymology

octa- + -roon (as in quadroon)

First Known Use

1859, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of octoroon was in 1859

Browse Nearby Words

octopus
octoroon
octospore
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Octoroon.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/octoroon. Accessed 30 Jun. 2025.

Copy Citation

Share

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

More Words You Always Have to Look Up

Using Bullet Points ( • )

Should that word have a hyphen?

Rack vs. Wrack

Are 'Funner' and 'Funnest' Real Words?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

How 'Namaste' Entered The English Language

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

10 Hella Good U.S. Regionalisms

Better Ways to Say 'This Sucks'

8 Words with Fascinating Histories
See More

Popular

See More

More Words You Always Have to Look Up

How 'Namaste' Entered The English Language

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
illustration of alice and tweedledee and tweedledum
Guess the Literary Image We show you the art, you guess the literary work....
See All