miscegenation
Meanings
Plural: miscegenations
Noun
- reproduction by parents of different races (especially by white and non-white persons)
- The mixing or blending of race in marriage or breeding, interracial marriage.
- A mixing or blending, especially one which is considered to be inappropriate.
Origin / Etymology
Blend of Latin miscēre (“mix”) + Latin genus (“race”) + -ation. Coined by American journalist David Goodman Croly in 1864 and first used in an anonymous pamphlet he coauthored, which claimed to be written by a person who believed in the inherent unity of all racial groups, that marriage between blacks and whites would create a better race, and that the American Civil War was a fight for the latter idea. Later, it was exposed that the pretext of the pamphlet was false and that it had actually been written by a group which hoped to inflame anger, particularly against then-US President Abraham Lincoln who was up for reelection.
Replaced previous amalgamation, from metallurgy.
Synonyms
crossbreeding, interbreeding, miscegeny, race mixer, race mixing
Scrabble Score: 0
miscegenation is not valid in Scrabble (US) TWL Dictionarymiscegenation is not valid in Scrabble (MW) Merriam-Webster Dictionary
miscegenation is not valid in International Collins CSW Dictionary