⚠️ A person with Down syndrome 👤 Like Mongol peoples ⚠️ Related to Down syndrome

mongoloid

5 9.9

An offensive old word for a person with Down syndrome that people should not use

noun
/ˈmɒŋɡəˌlɔɪd/

Slur

: mongoloide

The category Mongoloid was then divided into two racial groups: Asians and Native Americans.

Examples

My mother's younger brother Sam, who lived with us, was what they then called a Mongoloid.

Fiction book (1991)
In the past, some people referred to those with Down syndrome as mongoloid, but this term is now considered offensive.
In 1937, his colleagues chose three skulls from the anthropological museum of the USSR Academy of Sciences: one that seemed to have features typical of people from equatorial regions, a mongoloid, and a europoid.

Academic text (2003)
The term mongoloid was commonly used to describe individuals with Down syndrome until more respectful language became preferred.
Historically, mongoloid was used to label children with Down syndrome, a usage that is now regarded as outdated and derogatory.

Surface Forms

mongoloid singular

mongoloids plural

Morphology

mongoloid = Mongol (opaque) = Mongol + oid

The form is built from 'Mongol' + '-oid', but the offensive Down syndrome sense comes from a racist semantic extension and is not predictable from the component meanings.

Etymology

Mongoloid comes from Mongol 'people of Mongolia' and the ending -oid 'like', so it originally meant 'like Mongols'. A century ago some doctors wrongly used this word for people with Down syndrome, which was hurtful, so that use is now offensive and not acceptable.