Mulatto

Mulatto is a term originally used to refer to a person who is born from one white parent and one black parent, or to persons of two mulatto parents. Contemporary usage of the term is generally confined to situations in which the term is considered relevant in a historical context. For instance, in the 21st century, United States people of mixed white and black ancestry seldom choose to identify as "mulatto."

The term is considered archaic in the United States by some and largely viewed as pejorative. Accepted modern terms in the United States for people of mixed ancestry include "multiracial" and "biracial." However, these include other racial mixtures and it is still the formal register specific to a black-white mixture. Residents of Spain, Latin America, the Caribbean and some countries in Africa use the term freely, usually without suggesting any insult. In Latin America, most mulattoes are descendants of generational "race-mixing" dating to the slavery period. This is especially true in Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Haiti, Cape Verde and Puerto Rico, which have the highest proportions of mulattoes.