half-caste

[ haf-kast, hahf-kahst ]

noun

1. a contemptuous term used to refer to a person of mixed racial or ethnic descent.
2. a contemptuous term used to refer to a person of mixed European and Hindu or European and Muslim parentage.
3. a contemptuous term used to refer to a person descended from parents of two different social strata.

adjective

1. of or relating to a half-caste.

half-caste

noun

1. a person having parents of different races, esp the offspring of a European and an Indian

adjective

1. of, relating to, or designating such a person

Word History and Origins

Origin of half-caste¹

First recorded in 1785–95

Example Sentences

That, of course, sidestepped the real question — what role did racism, or even just race, play in a culture where the term “half-caste” is still used in some places with a completely straight face?

From Washington Post

How many had borne half-caste babies they neither remembered nor wished to remember?

From Literature

Aboriginal children, particularly “half-caste” kids, were literally stolen from their families and placed with white families.

From Salon

But this seemed to count for little in a world which, for all its modernity, still believed in labels such as “half-caste”, “full-blood” and “mixed race”.

From The Guardian

Instead of wrestling with a monstrous, chemically induced id, however, Latif’s soft-spoken Jekyll struggled with his rage from a lifetime of personal and professional derision on account of his “half-caste” identity.

From The Verge