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Caucasian

Pronunciation: /kɔːˈkeɪzɪən, -ʒ(ə)n/
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Definition of Caucasian

adjective

  • 1relating to one of the traditional divisions of humankind, covering a broad group of peoples from Europe, western Asia, and parts of India and North Africa.
    [so named because the German physiologist Blumenbach believed that it originated in the Caucasus region of SE Europe]
  • white-skinned; of European origin.
  • 2relating to the Caucasus.
  • 3relating to a group of languages spoken in the region of the Caucasus, of which thirty-eight are known, many not committed to writing. The most widely spoken is Georgian, of the small South Caucasian family, not related to the three North Caucasian families.

noun

  • a Caucasian person.
  • a white person; a person of European origin.

In the racial classification as developed by Blumenbach and others in the 19th century, Caucasian (or Caucasoid) included peoples whose skin colour ranged from light (in northern Europe) to dark (in parts of North Africa and India). Although the classification is outdated and the categories are now not generally accepted as scientific (see Mongoloid (usage)), the term Caucasian has acquired a more restricted meaning. It is now used, especially in the US, as a synonym for ‘white or of European origin’, as in the police are looking for a Caucasian male in his forties.

Caucasian in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of Caucasian in the US English dictionary

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