Creolen.adj.
/ˈkriːəʊl/, /ˈkreɪəʊl/, U.S. /ˈkriˌoʊl/, /ˈkreɪˌoʊl/ A. n.
1. Chiefly in the Caribbean, certain parts of the Americas (esp. tropical South America, the Gulf States, and parts of Central America), and in Mauritius and Réunion: a person born in one of these countries, but of European or African descent. (Originally used to distinguish such people from those of similar descent who were born in Europe or Africa, and from indigenous peoples. The following senses are clearly defined in early use, but the distinctions become less clear towards the present day. In modern use, the term is generally used for people with shared European linguistic and cultural heritage, rather than relating to race.)
a. A descendant of white European settlers (esp. Spanish or French) who is born in a colonized country. Cf. earlier criollo n. 1, Creolian n.This sense is usually restricted to those perceived to have no black ancestry.Creole remains a common term for the descendants of early French settlers living in the southern United States, particularly in Louisiana. This group is known for retaining the French language and customs.The term was widely used to refer to people born in Spanish America prior to the wars of independence, with tensions between Creoles and native-born Spaniards (or peninsulares: see peninsular n. 1) being one of the major causes of these conflicts. Since then the use of Creole to refer to Latin Americans has declined, and is now chiefly confined to historical contexts.
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the world > people > nations > national of a country > [noun] > creole
Creolian1648
Creole1697
1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World iv. 68 An English Native of St. Christophers, a Criole, as we call all born of European Parents in the West Indies.
1737 Common Sense (1738) I. 280 As to his Birth and Parentage, I cannot say whether he is a Native American or a Creole, nor is it material.
1758 A. Young Theatre Present War in N. Amer. i. 5 The inhabitants of Louisburg consist of french families, some europeans, and other creoles of the place itself.
1772 J. Adams tr. A. de Ulloa Voy. S. Amer. (ed. 3) II. ix. vii. 375 (Nova Scotia) French families, some Europeans, and others Creoles of the place itself and from..Newfoundland.
1793 S. Crumpe Ess. Employm. for People 192 The obvious difference of character between the prodigal and idle Creole of Mexico, and the frugal and industrious planter of Connecticut.
1832 F. Marryat Newton Forster II. ii. 13 [She] was a Creole, that is, born in the West Indies of French parents.
1854 W. H. Hurlbert Gan-Eden xii. 155 The whites in Cuba..are divided primarily into old Spaniards, or Peninsulars, and Creoles.
1877 Atlantic Monthly Nov. 561/1 The native Louisianian, descendant of the early French settler, who called himself a ‘Creole’.
1952 Life 29 Dec. 34 Napoleon lavished affection on his beautiful Creole wife, Josephine.
1970 L. Meriwether Daddy was Number Runner 70 He..should have known better than to marry a high-yaller hot-blooded Creole from New Orleans.
2011 J. Israel Democratic Enlightenment xviii. 506 The [Spanish] crown's long-standing, justified fear that Creoles would prove more partial to their own locality's and region's interests than those of the metropolis.
b. Any person of mixed ancestry born in a country previously colonized by white Europeans; (in later use typically) such a person speaking a creole (sense A. 2b) as his or her first language.
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1720 W. P. Jamaica Lady 86 Me no savé touch de bundle, me be de Creole tramping to grandee Town.
1793 B. Edwards Hist. Brit. Colonies W. Indies II. iv. i. 4 The whole inhabitants therefore may properly be divided into four great classes.—1. European Whites; 2. Creole or Native Whites; 3. Creoles of mixed blood, and free Native Blacks; 4. Negroes in a state of slavery.
1886 Jrnl. Amer. Geogr. Soc. N.Y. 18 355 The population [of Suriname] is indolent and without energy, the greater part being creoles of every shade and color.
1925 E. A. Powell Beyond Utmost Purple Rim xvi. 407 In Madagascar unlike our Gulf States, the term ‘creole’ implies a white father and a native mother.
1970 B. Benedict in L. Plotnicov & A. Tuden Ess. Compar. Social Stratification i. 40 Common cultural, linguistic, and religious traditions binding Creoles and Franco-Mauritians together.
1996 I. McClaurin Women of Belize (2000) 2 Historically, Creoles have resided in Belize City and dominated civil service jobs.
c. A person of black African descent born in the Caribbean or mainland Americas, esp. (in early use) as opposed to one recently arrived from Africa, (in later use) often speaking a creole (sense A. 2b) as his or her first language.
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the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of America > native or inhabitant of West Indies > [noun] > black
Creole1737
Creole Negro1764
Creole black1774
1737 S.-Carolina Gaz. 16 Apr. 2/1 The Negroes that were the Top-Tradesmen and Born in the Island (commonly called Creoles).
1758 J. Adams tr. A. de Ulloa Voy. S.-Amer. I. i. iv. 33 The class of Negroes is..again subdivided into Creoles and Bozares.
1838 E. L. Joseph Warner Arundell I. v. 51 Cuffy was a creole of Herculean stature and strength; and, withal, as brave as he was powerful.
1839 Daily Picayune (New Orleans) 17 Apr. 2/1 The negro man is described as a creole, speaking rather bad English.
1873 H. W. Bates Naturalist on River Amazons (ed. 3) i. 17 The term Creole is confined to negroes born in the country.
1907 Port of Spain Gaz. 15 May 4 The creoles are asked for no marriage certificate.
1919 Jrnl. Board of Agric. Brit. Guiana Jan. 99 The black Creoles of the colony appear to enjoy the irritation set up by the crab louse.
1989 Texas Monthly Nov. 259/1 They speak Creole, or Africanized, French not understood by Cajuns and, as a matter of pride, refer to themselves as black Creoles.
1993 N. M. Sampath in K. A. Yelvington Trinidadian Ethnicity 238 Although there is some acknowledgement that there are ‘good Creoles’ in Trinidad, many descriptions are summarised by the old adage: ‘You know how Negro people is.’
2. A language that has developed from the mixing of two or more parent languages and has come to be the first language of a community, typically arising as the result of contact between the language of a dominant group (historically often a European colonizer) and that (or those) of a subordinate group (often the colonized people, or a slave population).
a. As the name of a specific language of this type, esp. (in early use) one spoken by Creoles (sense A. 1).plantation creole: see the first element.
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the mind > language > a language > [noun] > creole or mixed language > particular mixed languages
lingua franca1666
Creole1726
plantation creole1934
1726 Four Years Voy. Capt. G. Roberts 367 Neither he, nor any on Board, could speak either the Creole of the Islands, or Portuguese.
1809 Port Folio July 40 The ignorant negroes [of Haiti] speak a language called Creole, but is a mixture of that language with the African.
1869 Proc. Sci. Assoc. Trinidad 1 405 These [trees] are the Mora, Galba, Carápa or Carapo (vulgarised into Crapeau in creole).
1879 L. Hearn in Daily City Item 28 Sept. 2/3 I explique myself to her, and she tell me in Creole—[etc.].
1938 Z. N. Hurston Tell my Horse iii. xvii. 263 All of this was spoken in Creole, of course.
1977 Jrnl. Black Stud. 7 391 The missionaries translated the New Testament and wrote primers in Negro Dutch Creole.
1990 B. Bryson Mother Tongue ii. 28 In Hawaiian creole the person who bought a shirt would say, ‘I bin go store go buy shirt’.
2001 Transition No. 89. 59/2 In France, they didn't have to worry that we would start speaking Creole..like the ragamuffins down the road.
b. Linguistics. More generally: any language that has developed from the mixing of two or more parent languages and has come to be the first language of a community. Usually with lower-case initial. Cf. post-creole adj. at post- prefix 2a(a)(i).Modern definitions require a creole to have passed through an earlier pidgin stage (see pidgin n. 2), in which it was used as a lingua franca without native speakers. The creole stage begins once the language starts to be used as the first language of a community, by which point it has usually become more linguistically complex.The vocabulary of a typical creole is largely supplied by the dominant language (or superstrate n. 2), while much of the grammar tends to be taken from the subordinate language (or substrate n. 3).
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the mind > language > a language > [noun] > creole or mixed language
patroillart1340
mixed language1592
jargon1643
lingua franca1666
Frank1681
polyglot1715
olla podrida1850
pidgin1869
Creole1871
Mischsprache1930
creolized language1932
Melanesian Pidgin1942
1871 Trans. Amer. Philol. Soc. 1 125 This isolation from the influence of the mother tongue has not unlikely had a favorable influence on the growth of the Creole.
1903 Amer. Almanac 317 The patois of the country class [in Haiti] is a creole, which almost deserves rank as a separate language, though but a dialect.
1958 C. F. Hockett Course in Mod. Linguistics xlix. 423 There are several examples of creoles in the Caribbean area, spoken largely by the descendants of escaped Negro slaves.
1962 Listener 22 Nov. 868/3 A number of people working on Creoles met in Jamaica in 1959, and agreed to adopt Robert Hall's distinction between Creoles and Pidgins: a Pidgin is a first-generation lingua franca..spoken by everybody as a second language; when in subsequent generations it becomes the first language of a community, it is a Creole.
2003 M. Abley Spoken Here ii. 35 Now young speakers of other languages found themselves in the same area, under the sway of English. The inevitable happened: a creole emerged.
B. adj.
1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of a Creole or Creoles (sense A. 1).French Creole: see the first element.
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the world > people > nations > national of a country > [adjective] > creole > relating to
Creole1716
Creolian1842
1716 ‘A. Wagstaffe’ True Acct. Pyracies Jamaica 30 A Creole Fiddle, and a pair of Bag-pipes.
1828 G. W. Bridges Ann. Jamaica II. x. 9 A trait in the Creole character.
1855 W. Irving Chron. Wolfert's Roost 42 In an old French creole village.
1919 Trinidad Guardian 1 June 2 In former times Creole furniture, in spite of being stronger and more durable, did not acquire extensive popularity.
1965 Ebony May 66 (caption) Creole tradition is kept alive by Pierce.., who sings the popular Hello, Dolly in English and French choruses.
2002 S. Burke Deadwater v. 47 A creole community evolving its own way of being.
2.
a. Of a person: that is a Creole; spec. (esp. in early use) born in a colonized country distinct to that of his or her ancestors.Quot. 1718 may be interpreted as an attributive use of Creole Negro n. at Compounds 2.
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the world > people > nations > national of a country > [adjective] > creole
Creolian1648
Creole1718
creolized1816
1718 Weekly Jamaica Courant 5 Aug. A Creole Negroe Boy, named Jimmy.
1728 W. Betagh Voy. round World iv. ii. 274 How agreeable soever these practices are to the Creole Spaniards, yet they cause a great inconvenience to society.
1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker I. 58 Two negroes, belonging to a Creole gentleman..began to practise upon the French-horn.
1827 O. W. Roberts Narr. Voy. Central Amer. 28 Creole descendants of Spanish adventurers.
1849 Knickerbocker 34 407/1 He's a huckleberry above my persimmon, and right smart lanyope too, as them creole darkies say.
1910 L. O. Inniss Trinidad & Trinidadians 75 The kindly sympathy of the good old creole dames.
1942 E. Ferber Saratoga Trunk (new ed.) vii. 114 She is fifteen, she is Creole—..very stiff they are and clannish and everything de rigueur.
2004 Independent 30 Dec. (Review section) 15/3 Brandy Milk Punch..is a very traditional hangover cure down in old New Orleans—..Creole folk have been surviving on it for more than 100 years.
b. Of animals and plants: bred or grown in the West Indies, Latin America, etc., and associated with the Creoles (in contrast to those of indigenous origin or of more recent introduction).
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the world > plants > by habitat or distribution > [adjective] > characteristic of particular region or period
southerneOE
African1578
Asiatic1670
American1678
Creole1758
Californian1785
subalpine1808
Antarctic1835
Adelaidean1847
Arctic1876
Atlantic1876
gerontogeous1880
Cenomanian1902
Lusitanian1907
pantropic1911
pantropical1913
native1920
the world > life > biology > balance of nature > distribution > [adjective] > plants or animals of a particular region > from specified region
EnglisheOE
Arabian1580
Scotch1610
West Indian1625
Scots1728
Creole1758
Californian1785
Nubian1790
Lusitanian1907
pantropical1913
1758 J. Adams tr. A. de Ulloa Voy. S.-Amer. II. i. i. 17 Fruits..of the Creole kind, being European fruits planted there, but which have undergone considerable alterations from the climate.
1832 W. Macgillivray Trav. & Researches A. von Humboldt xiv. 168 Three species of sugar-cane, the old Creole, the Otaheitan, and the Batavian.
1885 A. Brassey In Trades 263 The active little animals known as ‘creole’ horses.
1928 A. E. Aspinall Wayfarer W. Indies 71 The deadly cascabel snake and the venomous mapepire..have been the death of more than one Creole hunting dog.
1974 M. A. Rauf Indian Village Guyana vi. 68 Three different breeds of cattle are found in the village: 1. Imported..2. Creole breed..3. Mixed breed.
2002 Jrnl. Heredity 93 429/2 To elucidate the genetic ancestry of Creole cattle, we have analyzed molecular diversity in three cattle populations.
3. Designating a language spoken by a community of Creoles; (later) = creolized adj. 2.
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the mind > language > a language > [adjective] > creole or mixed
mongrel1610
Creole1726
nativized1933
pidginized1938
1726 Four Years Voy. Capt. G. Roberts 319 I look'd up again, and in the St. Jago Creole Tongue ask'd them the Reason of using us so roughly?
1760 World Displayed XVII. 80 The next language mostly used here is called the Creole Portuguese, though I believe it would be scarce understood at Lisbon.
1813 C. Buchanan Colonial Eccl. Establishm. 26 The Moravians, in their account of the manner of instructing the negroes,..represented this dialect as a foreign tongue, which they call the Creole language.
1884 W. H. Bishop in Harper's Mag. Mar. 516/2 The people speak creole French.
1947 Phylon 8 259 The Creole language spoken by the mass of Haitian peasants offers a rich field of study.
1972 W. B. Lockwood Panorama Indo-European Lang. 119 Creole English has also developed in West Africa.
2001 B. Geddes World Food: Caribbean Gloss. 253/1 Some of the smaller islands speak a Creole patois that draws heavily from French.
4. Cookery. Of food, a dish, etc.: prepared in a style developed in a Creole area and typically displaying a mixture of European (esp. French or Spanish) and African influences; spec. designating a style of cuisine originating in Louisiana that includes dishes such as jambalaya, gumbo, and red beans and rice. Frequently as postmodifier.Louisiana Creole cookery and Cajun cookery are related but distinct traditions, Cajun cuisine typically being regarded as more rustic.
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1817 C. S. Rafinesque tr. C. C. Robin Florula Ludoviciana §82. 31 They [sc. pokeweed leaves] are particularly employed in the Creole dish called Gombo.
1833 A. C. Carmichael Domest. Manners W. Indies I. vii. 190 At five or six months' old these children all eat the creole soup, even pretty well seasoned with country peppers.
1899 Logansport (Indiana) Pharos Tribune 17 July Luncheon... Buttered Toast. Shrimp Creole. Pickles. Currants. Tea.
1911 R. Beach Ne'er-do-well i. 13 This is the best place in town for chicken creole.
1955 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 29 Jan. 1/1 Tobago has arranged for a 100 per cent creole menu for Princess Margaret.
1995 Independent (Nexis) 19 Aug. 38 He..brings to his Cajun and Creole dishes a wonderful combination of traditional knowledge and innovative skills.
2007 J. Villas Glory of Southern Cooking 190/1 Along with seafood gumbo, jambalaya, and beignets, shrimp creole is a signature dish of New Orleans.
Compounds
C1. Compounds of the noun.
a. Objective, as Creole-speaker, Creole-speaking adj., etc.
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1869 J. J. Thomas Theory & Pract. Creole Gram. Pref. p. iv I thought that a grammar embodying these facts would be useful..to Creole-speaking natives who may desire to study other languages etymologically.
1938 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 43 779 Joseph Vendryes..says of Creole-speakers: ‘Their apprenticeship to this language was never completed.’
1992 Eng. Today Jan. 3/2 Dr Todd has..carried out research in most of the creole-using communities in the world, including West Africa, the Caribbean, Hawaii, and Papua New Guinea.
2007 Social & Econ. Stud. 56 278 Creole Linguistics..had as its specific focus the Creole-speaking people of (ex)-colonial areas such as the Caribbean.
b.
creole continuum n. Linguistics (in a post-creole community) a continuous range of variation in social dialects, from the variety most closely related to the creole to the variety most closely resembling the standard language; cf. basilect n., acrolect n.Cf. slightly earlier post-creole continuum n. at post- prefix 2a(a)(ii).
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1971 Caribbean Q. 17 ii. 5 (title) On the Nature of a Creole Continuum.
1976 Jrnl. Royal Soc. Arts 124 435/1 Far more important linguistically is the eventual creation of the creole-continuum already referred to.
1985 J. R. Rickford in N. Wolfson & J. Manes Lang. of Inequality 146 The standard view of language attitudes in creole continua is that the standard variety is good, and the non-standard varieties (including the ‘Creole’) are bad.
2005 Callaloo 28 32 Jamaica..possesses the most distinctive form of Caribbean English, characterized by a true creole continuum and by very significant divergences from standard English.
C2. Compounds of the adjective.† Creole crab n. Obsolete rare any of several West Indian crabs (not identified).
Creole black n. now chiefly historical (also with lower-case initial) = sense A. 1c.
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1769 Daily Advertiser 18 Apr. (advt.) To be sold, a Creole Black Boy, nine Years of Age,..brought from Jamaica about six Months ago.]
1774 E. Long Hist. Jamaica II. iii. iii. 412 It is necessary for each of them to study well the temper of every Creole Black under his particular command.
1854 N. Amer. Rev. July 125 One planter boasted in our hearing that all his slaves..were native Africans. They were considered superior to the degenerate Creole blacks.
1892 Timehri 6 54 The creole blacks form 56.6 per cent of the creole population and 83.2 per cent of the blacks are creoles.
1922 Jrnl. Negro Hist. 7 363 Many of the Creole blacks in this region were mechanics, who sent out their slaves to do odd mechanical jobs for the owner's profit.
2004 G. R. Andrews Afro-Latin Amer. ii. 74 This doubtless reflected..fears, primarily among the white population but often among Creole blacks as well, of the growing African population.
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1756 P. Browne Civil & Nat. Hist. Jamaica ii. iii. 422 The Creole-Crab... The larger hairy Creole-Crab with prickly claws.
Creole Negro n. now chiefly historical (also with lower-case initials) = sense A. 1c.Quot. 1718 at sense B. 2a may be interpreted as an attributive use of this term.
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1764 Gentleman's & London Mag. Mar. 219/2 At Berbices, a part of Surinam in South America, about 300 Creole negroes, revolted, and massacred all who made any resistance.
a1827 H. M. Williams tr. A. von Humboldt Personal Narr. Trav. (1829) VII. 121 52 mulatresses, 437 creole negroes, and 560 bozale negresses, recently imported.
2000 C. Bernard tr. L. Pradel Afr. Beliefs in New World i. 89 A period of acclimatization followed the arrival, during which the slave was entrusted to a Creole Negro whose responsibility was to initiate him to plantation life.
Creole White n. (also with lower-case initials) = sense A. 1a.
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1862 J. M. Ludlow Hist. U.S. 316 (note) There are creole whites, creole negroes, creole horses, &c.; and creole whites are, of all persons, the most anxious to be deemed of pure white blood.
1995 V. M. Gregg Jean Rhys's Hist. Imagination 102 [The Englishman] invents the West Indies as uncivilized and wild, a place to make money, where the blacks are inhuman and the Creole whites are contaminated and strange.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1697