Where does “mulatto” come from?
Mulatto comes from Spanish mulato, formed with the Spanish suffix -ato from Latin mulus, a mule, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European mukslós.
mulatto (English): A person of mixed black and white descent,...
Definitions
- A person of mixed black and white descent,...
Ancestry of “mulatto”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Spanish | mulato | mulatto; dark-skinned; a small or young mule |
| 2 | Spanish | -ato | forms an institution from a noun stem; forms the... |
| 3 | Latin | -ātus | — |
| 4 | Proto-Italic | -ātos | — |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | -éh₂tos | — |