Miscegenation facts for kids
Miscegenation ( mih-SEJ-ə-NAY-shən) is a relationship or marriage between people who are considered to be members of different races. The word, now usually considered pejorative, is derived from a combination of the Latin terms miscere ("to mix") and genus ("race"). The term came to be associated with laws that banned interracial marriage, which were known as anti-miscegenation laws.
Although the term "miscegenation" was formed from the Latin miscere "to mix" plus genus "race" or "kind", and it could therefore be perceived as being value-neutral, in the present day, it is avoided by many scholars. Less loaded terms for multiethnic relationships, such as interethnic or interracial marriage, and mixed-race, multiethnic, or multiracial people, are more common in contemporary usage.
In Spanish, Portuguese, and French, the words used to describe the mixing of races are mestizaje, mestiçagem, and métissage. These words, much older than the term miscegenation, are derived from the Late Latin mixticius for "mixed", which is also the root of the Spanish word mestizo. These non-English terms for "race-mixing" are not considered as offensive as "miscegenation", although they have historically been tied to the caste system (casta) that was established during the colonial era in Spanish-speaking Latin America.
Today, the mixes among races and ethnicities are diverse, so it is considered preferable to use the term "mixed-race" or simply "mixed" (mezcla).
See also
In Spanish: Mestizaje para niños
