Criollo people (European diaspora born in the Spanish colonies in the Americas)Ĭreole woman with black servant in New Orleans.The following ethnic groups have been historically characterized as 'creole' peoples: The word Creole has several cognates in other languages, such as crioulo, criollo, creolo, créole, kriolu, criol, kreyol, kreol, kriol, krio, and kriyoyo. Creoles originally referred to the descendants of European colonists who had been born in the colonies (and with that meaning the term was used in the Spanish colonies throughout the colonial period). Cria derives from criar, meaning 'to raise or bring up', itself derived from the Latin creare, meaning 'to make, bring forth, produce, beget' - itself the source of the English word 'create'. The English word creole derives from the French créole, which in turn came from Portuguese crioulo, a diminutive of cria, meaning a person raised in one's house.
