half-breed

Pluralhalf-breeds

1. 1
   nounderogatoryethnicoffensiveslurdatedcountable

   An offensive, dated term for a person of mixed racial ancestry, especially someone of mixed white and Native American parentage.

   Settlers in the territory often refused to trade with anyone they branded a half-breed.

   It was at Para also that we engaged Gomez and Manuel, two half-breeds from up the river, just come down with a cargo of redwood.

   1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World

   Note

   A word to recognize when reading rather than to use: it is an ethnic slur, however matter-of-fact it looks in older prose. Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World (1912) applies it casually to two river traders, and Watson Kirkconnell in 1921 pairs it with Metis for the Saskatchewan River community. When a name is genuinely needed today, Métis, mestizo or simply "of mixed ancestry" carries the meaning without the insult.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   An animal or plant produced from parents of two different breeds, types, or species.

   The orchard was full of half-breeds that combined the hardiness of one tree with the sweetness of another.

   Breeders prized the half-breed for its unusual coat and gentle temperament.

   Similarhybrid, crossbreed, cross

   Oppositepurebred

3. 3
   adjectivederogatoryoffensivedated

   Describing a person of mixed racial parentage or dual heritage; now considered offensive and dated.

   The census taker recorded several half-breed families along the river.

   He was dismissed as half-breed by officers who doubted his loyalty.

   Note

   The adjective carries the same insult as the noun slur, tucked inside a phrase such as a half-breed family or a half-breed scout. It applies to people, and that is what separates it from the breeding adjective. It is also exactly what makes it wounding. Where a modern writer needs the idea, mixed-heritage wording or a specific identity term says it without the slur.

4. 4
   adjective

   Describing an animal or plant descended from parents of different breeds, or having one purebred parent.

   The half-breed colt inherited its speed from a thoroughbred sire.

   Farmers often prefer half-breed stock for its hardiness in rough weather.

   Similarcrossbred, hybrid

   Oppositepurebred, thoroughbred

   Note

   Among breeders the compound is literal. Half of the animal's line is the pure breed, through one purebred parent, and the other half is not. Used of livestock or plants it is neutral, close to hybrid or crossbred. Because the human adjective is a slur, keep the subject unmistakably an animal or plant, as in a half-breed colt or half-breed stock, so the word cannot be misread.

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