| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. |
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
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6. Names and Labels: Social, Racial, and Ethnic Terms
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| § 15. Caucasian / Caucasoid |
| Caucasian and its more restricted synonym Caucasoid belong to the system of racial classification proposed by European anthropologists in the 18th and 19th centuries. These terms refer to a broad group of peoples indigenous to Europe, western Asia, northern Africa, and much of the Indian subcontinent. Caucasian and Caucasoid are in some ways the most problematic of the traditional racial terms, not so much for any offensive character as for their widespread misuse as a synonym for “white” or “European.” Many of the peoples traditionally included in this category, such as the Berbers of North Africa and the various Hindu and Muslim peoples of northern India, have skin color noticeably darker than most Europeans and as such are not usually considered to be white. Obviously they are not European either. Yet in casual usage, in police reports, and even in many dictionaries, Caucasian is often used interchangeably with those two terms. You should take care to avoid this imprecision. | 1 |
| Caucasian, but not Caucasoid, is also a geographic term referring to the Caucasus (the mountainous region between the Black and Caspian Seas for which the racial category was named) or to any of its indigenous peoples including Azerbaijanis, Armenians, and Ossetians. When using Caucasian in this sense you may wish to provide an initial context so as to avoid any ambiguity; instead of a Caucasian people you might include a phrase such as a people inhabiting (or from) the Caucasus. | 2 |
| More at
race. | 3 |
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| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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