quadroon meaning (dated): definition, etymology and quotations

quadroon

noun

/kwɑːˈdɹuːn/

Etymology From Spanish cuarterón (“¾ white, a child of a European and a mestizo”), from cuarto (“one-fourth”) + -on (“-oon: forming related nouns”), from Latin quartus (“one-fourth”). Doublet of cuarteron.

Dated, Historical A person considered three-fourths white, having one non-white grandparent.

There were slow boys and bashful boys, feeble boys and riotous boys, boys that lisped and boys that stuttered, one or two lame ones, and a merry little quadroon, who could not be taken in elsewhere, but who was welcome to the ‘Bhaer-garten’, though some people predicted that his admission would ruin the school.1869, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, chapter 47, in Little Women: […], 2nd part, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, →OCLC:
1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, Chapter V, p. 63; Chapter VIII, p. 120 https://archive.org/details/capricornianovel00herb Diana was a black quadroon, her father being a blackfellow. He was the father of four quadroons who were regarded as half-castes because the lighter part of their mother's blood was Asiatic, and he was only too well aware of what their future would be should he desert them.

Coordinate terms: mulatto, quarter-caste

quadroon

adj

Dated, Historical Of or related to quadroons.

Before them, with her face upraised, In timid attitude, Like one half curious, half amazed, A Quadroon maiden stood.1842, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Quadroon Girl:
"What need you getting drunk, then, and cutting up, Prue?" said a spruce quadroon chambermaid, dangling, as she spoke, a pair of coral ear-drops.1851 June – 1852 April, Harriet Beecher Stowe, chapter XVII, in Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Boston, Mass.: John P[unchard] Jewett & Company; Cleveland, Oh.: Jewett, Proctor & Worthington, published 20 March 1852, →OCLC:

1 more example

The quadroon girl is sold at the auction-stand, the drunkard nods by the bar-room stove, […]1892, Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”, in Leaves of Grass […], Philadelphia, Pa.: David McKay, publisher, […], →OCLC, page 40: