Etymograph

English

creole

Creole comes from French créole, and goes back to Portuguese crioulo.

  1. Portuguesec. 1500–presentcrioulo1
  2. Spanishc. 1500–presentcriollo1
  3. Frenchc. 1600–presentcréole1
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1818creole1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English creole
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1818, The Methodist Magazine: “There are three orders of people: those who were…”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Portuguesec. 1500–presentcriouloWiktionary, English creole
  2. Spanishc. 1500–presentcriolloWiktionary, English creole
  3. Frenchc. 1600–presentcréoleWiktionary, English creole
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1818creoleWiktionary, English creole. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1818, The Methodist Magazine: “There are three orders of people: those who were…”

The story

Attested in English to refer to language from the 18th century.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱer- ‘to grow, become bigger’

increase, increasing, crew, decrease, cereal, crescent, croissant, increment, excrement, accretion, cru, kore, 26 more

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱreh₁-eh₂yé-ti

procreation, 9 more

through Latin creō ‘to create, to give existence to, to form, to…’

create, creative, creation, creator, creature, creat, 13 more

Today it means

noun A language formed from two or more languages which has developed from a pidgin to become a first language.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “creole”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Portuguese crioulo / creole

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