n.
Pronunciation: ' kr ē - ˌ ō l
Function: noun
Etymology: French créole, from Spanish criollo, from Portuguese crioulo white person born in the colonies
Date: 1737
1 : a person of European descent born especially in the West Indies or Spanish America
2 : a white person descended from early French or Spanish settlers of the U.S. Gulf states and preserving their speech and culture
3 : a person of mixed French or Spanish and black descent speaking a dialect of French or Spanish
4 a : a language evolved from pidginized French that is spoken by blacks in southern Louisiana b : HAITIAN c not capitalized : a language that has evolved from a pidgin but serves as the native language of a speech community