griffe

Meaning

Noun

• A claw-like ornament at the base of a column.
• A person of mixed (black and white) race, especially the offspring of a mulatto (person of mixed black and white ancestry) and a person of fully black ancestry.

Origin

• From French griffe ("claw").
• From Cajun French (in period American English usage) and from general French griffe (in reference to such people in e.g. Haiti), perhaps from (American) Spanish grifo (supposedly "curly-haired").