MESTIZO

plural mestizos, feminine mestiza any person of mixed blood. In Central and South America it denotes a person of combined Indian and European extraction. In some countriese.g., Ecuadorit has acquired social and cultural connotations; a pure-blooded Indian who has adopted European dress and customs is called a mestizo (or cholo). In Mexico the description has been found so variable in meaning that it has been abandoned in census reports. In the Philippines mestizo denotes a person of mixed foreign (e.g., Chinese) and native ancestry.