| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. |
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
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6. Names and Labels: Social, Racial, and Ethnic Terms
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| § 32. Eurasian |
| In its ethnic as opposed to its geographic sense, Eurasian denotes a person of mixed European and Asian parentage. It was first used in the 19th century in referring to someone of European—especially British—and East Indian birth; in a contemporary American context the parents are more often a white American—that is, of European descent—and a person of East or South Asian origin. | 1 |
| The geographic sense of Eurasian is quite distinct, referring to the land mass comprising the European and Asian continents and especially to the large indeterminate region where they join. Peoples indigenous to this region can also be termed Eurasian, creating a potential ambiguity when used of an individual as opposed to a group or culture. If the ambiguity is not resolved by context, you may wish to use a descriptive phrase such as a member of a Eurasian people or a person of European and Asian parentage for clarity. | 2 |
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| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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