Light-skinned Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Est. 1828 Dictionary

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light-skinned

adjective

ˈlīt-ˈskind variants or less commonly light skinned 1 : having a light olive to medium brown complexion especially : being a Black, Latine, Indigenous, mixed-race, or other person of color with such a complexion … Eslanda Elbert Cardozo, Essie's light-skinned mother, rebelled against the pervasive colorist attitudes of the era's African-American community when she married the dark-skinned John Goode. —Eleanor J. Bader I've never thought there was a whole lot of value to being light skinned in a society that hasn't embraced its black people of whatever shade, but if people want to be colorist, you can't stop them. —Kashana Cauley I identify as a mixed-race woman because being light-skinned and having mixed features places me at an advantage in the matrix of colorist, Europeanized beauty standards, which have historically (and artificially) placed light-skinned Black and biracial women at odds with our darker-skinned sisters. —Sarah Valentine 2 : having fair skin Melanin is generated in response to the ultraviolet B radiation in sunlight; it is what makes light-skinned people tan.—Jane E. Brody Malignant melanoma is primarily a disease of light-skinned individuals of northern European parentage with a history of exposure to intense solar radiation.—Marvin Harris

Word History

First Known Use

1802, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Time Traveler The first known use of light-skinned was in 1802 See more words from the same year

Rhymes for light-skinned

• underpinned
• chagrined
• crosswind
• downwind
• rescind
• upwind
• whirlwind
• woodwind
• finned
• ginned
• grinned
• pinned

See All Rhymes for light-skinned

Browse Nearby Words

light sickness light-skinned light-skirts See all Nearby Words

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“Light-skinned.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/light-skinned. Accessed 3 Feb. 2026.

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