sb. pl. Anthropology. [mod.L. (Huxley), transliteration (instead of the regular L. form *xanthomelanī) of an assumed Gr. *ξανθομέλανοι, f. ξανθός yellow + μέλας, μελαν- black: cf. MELANOI and XANTHOCHROI. (On the analogy of the other terms, the word should have been Melanoxanthoi, the first element referring to the hair, the second to the skin.)] In Huxley’s classification of the varieties of mankind: A subdivision of the Leiotrichi or smooth-haired class, having black hair and yellow, brown, or olive complexion. Hence Xanthomelanous a., belonging to or having the characters of the Xanthomelanoi.
1865. Huxley, Crit. & Addr. (1873), 153. The ‘xanthomelanous,’ with black hair and yellow, brown, or olive skins. Ibid. (1866), Laing’s Preh. Rem. Caithn., 132. The Leiotrichi may be best subdivided, according to their complexion, into Xanthochroi, Melanochroi, Xanthomelanoi, and Melanoi.
