Caucasian

Meaning

Adj

1. Of or relating to the Caucasus region or its culture, languages, and people.
2. (dated) Of a racial classification pertaining to people having certain phenotypical features such as straight, curly, or wavy hair and very light to brown pigmented skin, and originating from Europe, parts of Northern Africa and Central, South, and Western Asia.
3. (Australia, Canada, Singapore, US) Of a person: having a white complexion and European ancestry; white.

Noun

1. A native or inhabitant of the Caucasus.
2. (humorous) Synonym of White Russian (“a cocktail consisting of coffee liqueur, milk, and vodka”).
3. (dated) A member of the Caucasian racial classification (adjective sense 2).
4. A group of languages spoken in the Caucasus region.
5. (Canada, US) A white person.

Synonyms

white

Caucasoid

Caucasic

Caucasian language

European

white-skinned

White

white person

white race

white man

honkey

honky

honkie

White person

Europid

Translations

caucasien

Caucasien

caucasiano

caucásico

caucasiana

blanc

caucáseo

Kaukasier

Kafkas

européen

bianco

Weißer

caucasico

kaukasisch

Pronounced as (IPA)

/kɔːˈkeɪ.ʒən/

Etymology

From Caucasus (“mountain range in Eastern Europe between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea”) + -ian (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘from, related to, or like’, or forming nouns with the sense ‘one from, belonging to, relating to, or like’). The anthropological sense (no longer regarded as scientific) was popularized by the German anthropologist and physician Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752–1840), based on the belief that the first humans originated from there.
Noun sense 2 (“cocktail”) was popularized by the film The Big Lebowski (1998): see the quotation.