creole

UK: 'Creole', 'creole': /ˈkriːəʊl/ US: /ˈkrioʊl/ ,(krē′ōl)

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

creole / ˈkriːəʊl/ noun

1. a language that has its origin in extended contact between two language communities, one of which is generally European. It incorporates features from each and constitutes the mother tongue of a community
   Compare pidgin

adjective

1. denoting, relating to, or characteristic of creole
2. (of a sauce or dish) containing or cooked with tomatoes, green peppers, onions, etc

Etymology: 17th Century: via French and Spanish probably from Portuguese crioulo slave born in one's household, person of European ancestry born in the colonies, probably from criar to bring up, from Latin creāre to create

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

Cre•ole /ˈkrioʊl/   n. 

1. Language Varieties [countable]
   • a French-speaking person of Louisiana descended from the earliest French and Spanish settlers.
   • a French-speaking person of Louisiana of mixed black and French or Spanish ancestry.
2. Linguistics [countable* usually: creole] a pidgin language that has become the native language of a speech community.Compare pidgin.

adj. 

3. Language Varieties [sometimes: creole] of, relating to, or characteristic of a Creole or Creoles.
4. Food made with tomatoes, peppers, onions, and spices and served with rice:
   [usually: creole* often: after a noun] shrimp creole.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

Cre•ole  (krē′ōl), n. 

1. Language Varieties a person born in the West Indies or Spanish America but of European, usually Spanish, ancestry.
2. Language Varieties a person born in Louisiana but of usually French ancestry.
3. Language Varieties (sometimes l.c.) a person of mixed black and European, esp. French or Spanish, ancestry who speaks a creolized form of French or Spanish.
4. Linguistics (usually l.c.) a creolized language;
   a pidgin that has become the native language of a speech community. Cf. pidgin. 
5. Language Varieties the creolized French language of the descendants of the original settlers of Louisiana. Cf. Cajun.
6. Language Varieties See Haitian Creole. 
7. Anthropology, Language Varieties (usually l.c.) [Archaic.] a black person born in the New World, as distinguished from one brought there from Africa.

adj. 

8. Language Varieties (sometimes l.c.) of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a Creole or Creoles.
9. Food (usually l.c.) [Cookery.] indicating a spicy sauce or dish made esp. with tomatoes, peppers, onions, celery, and seasonings, and often served with rice.
10. (sometimes l.c.) bred or growing in a country, but of foreign origin, as an animal or plant.

• Latin creāre; see create
• Portuguese crioulo native, derivative of criar to bring up
• Spanish criollo
• French
• 1595–1605

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

Creole / ˈkriːəʊl/ noun
also called: Creolian / kriːˈəʊlɪən/

1. (sometimes not capital)(in the Caribbean and Latin America) a native-born person of European, esp Spanish, ancestry
2. a native-born person of mixed European and African ancestry who speaks a French or Spanish creole
3. (in Louisiana and other Gulf States of the US) a native-born person of French ancestry
4. the creolized French spoken in Louisiana, esp in New Orleans

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of any of these peoples