Tasmanoid
/ˈtazmənɔɪd
/Australian dated or offensive Usage
adjective
Relating to or denoting the division of humankind represented by Tasmanian Aboriginal people: the Tasmanoid culture also possessed simpler weapons...
- Discussing the results of their 1938–39 expedition, they speak of the existence of a Tasmanoid group in the rainforests of North Queensland.
- Of these 12 Tasmanoid tribes, Dixon identifies 6 as speaking dialects belonging to the Dyirbal language group.
- One of the skulls is said to have Tasmanoid qualities, and their stratigraphic position is assigned to this interglacial.
noun
A member of the division of humankind represented by Tasmanian Aboriginal people: the present writer believes that the Tasmanoids entered Australia from New Guinea...
- The controversial historian recently published a definitive study on Australia's short-stature tribes, referred to variously as Pygmies, Negritos, Tasmanoids, and Barrineans.
- The Tasmanoids were the original traditional owners of the island of Tasmania.
- It has been argued that the Tasmanoids did not cross the continent at all but reached Tasmania from New Guinea and other nearby islands by drift voyages on raft or canoes.
Usage
The term Tasmanoid belongs to a set of terms introduced by 19th-century anthropologists attempting to categorize human races. Such terms are associated with outdated notions of racial types, and so are now potentially offensive and best avoided. See Mongoloid (usage).
Origin
1920s: from an abbreviation of Tasmania + -oid.