Meanings
mestee1
Mestee2
plural Mestees
- A member of an old mixed race group, particularly those groups which identify more with their white ancestry than with their black or Native American ancestry, like the Melungeons and a person referred to as a brass ankle.
- A person who is mostly white and less than one eighth black.
- In the West Indies, a person who is one eighth black (an octoroon).
- not comparableOf mixed race people, especially if mostly white in ancestry, appearance and culture.
- not comparableOf an old mixed race group, particularly those groups which identify more with their white ancestry than with their black or Native American ancestry.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSynonym of mustee.
Origin
Mestee · noun, adjective
- Old Frenchmestif“mongrel”
- Latinmixtus
- Middle Frenchmestis“a person of mixed race”
- EnglishMestee
Usually from Middle French mestis (“a person of mixed race”), from Latin mixtus (Modern French métis); cognate with Spanish mestizo. Doublet of Metis, metis, mestizo, and mustee. Sometimes from Colonial Louisiana French mestif "child of an Octoroon and a white person" (15/16 white, 1/16 black), from Old French mestif (“mongrel”)
More words from Middle French, Latin, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
mestee. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mestee
“mestee.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mestee. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mestee,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mestee.
Source: mestee on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.