Caucasian

views updated Jun 27 2018

Cau·ca·sian / kôˈkāzhən/ • adj. 1. often offens. of or relating 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. ∎  white-skinned; of European origin.2. of or relating to the Caucasus.3. of or relating to a group of languages spoken in the region of the Caucasus. The most widely spoken is Georgian, of the smallSouth Caucasian family, not related to the threeNorth Caucasian families.• n. often offens. a Caucasian person. ∎  a white person; a person of European origin.

Caucasian

views updated May 11 2018

Caucasian 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 Although the classification is outdated and the categories are now not generally accepted as scientific, the term Caucasian has acquired a more restricted meaning.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’.