Caucasoid
/ˈkɔː.kə.sɔɪd/noun
A dated racial classification once used to describe people of European, North African, Southwest Asian, and some South Asian ancestry.
Did you know?Caucasoid comes from the Caucasus, because some 18th–19th century writers mistakenly treated that region as the origin point of the “white race,” a theory now rejected as pseudoscience.
Etymological Timeline
Late 18th Century
English
Caucasian
“A term coined in racial classification, originally referring to people from the Caucasus and later misused as a broad racial label.”
19th Century
English
Caucasoid
“A coined scientific-sounding racial type meaning “Caucasian-like,” used in now-discredited physical anthropology.”
18th Century
German
Kaukasisch
“Pertaining to the Caucasus region.”
Ancient Greek
Greek
Καύκασος (Kaukasos)
“The Caucasus mountains.”
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*kauk- / *kaw-
“A proposed ancient root behind the mountain name, though the deeper origin is uncertain.”