Creole

Creole (Span. criollo), in general an individual born in the country but not of indigenous blood, a term applied, especially in the former Spanish, French, and Portuguese colonies of America, Africa, and the East Indies, to natives of pure European blood (sangre azul), in opposition to immigrants themselves born in Europe, or to the offspring of mixed blood, as mulattoes, quadroons, Eurasians, and the like. In Brazil the native whites call themselves Brasileiros. Creole dialects are corruptions of French, Spanish, Portuguese, English, or Dutch, arising in various colonies, and may be studied in such formal treatises as Thomas, The Theory and Practice of Creole Grammar (Port of Spain, 1869), and Quentin, L'Histoire de Cayenne et de la Grammaire Créole (Paris, 1872). Mr Cable's stories revealed to English readers the singularly quaint charm of the phraseology and manners of the Creole population of Louisiana.