half-breed

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See also: halfbreed

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From half- +‎ breed.

Noun

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half-breed (plural half-breeds)

  1. (derogatory) A person of mixed racial parentage or ancestry, especially one of mixed white and American Indian parentage (metis, métis, Metis, Métis; mestizo).
    • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
      It was at Para also that we engaged Gomez and Manuel, two half-breeds from up the river, just come down with a cargo of redwood.
    • 1921, Watson Kirkconnell, “Military Annals of Victoria”, in Victoria County Centennial History‎[1], Lindsay, Ontario: Watchman-Warder Press, →OCLC, page 186:
      The half-breeds or Metis along the Saskatchewan River asked that they be given a legal title to the land which they occupied. […] The half-breeds found that constitutional agitation was hopeless and began open hostilities.
    • 1973 March 4, John Kifner, “The Ghosts Dance Once Again at Wounded Knee”, in The New York Times‎[2], →ISSN:
      Some oppose A.I.M. leaders as outsiders; some resent the leadership of Mr. Wilson; full‐blooded Indians resent halfbreeds; the have‐nots resent those with relative wealth.
  2. A hybrid animal or plant.

Synonyms

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  • breed (short form for half-breed)

Translations

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Adjective

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half-breed

  1. (of a person, derogatory) having dual heritage; having mixed racial parentage or ancestry
  2. (of an animal or plant) Hybridized; having one purebred parent; descended from parents of different breeds or with different traits

Translations

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See also

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