hyperdescent

hyper- +‎ descent

• Rhymes: -ɛnt

hyperdescent (uncountable)

1. The practice of classifying a child of mixed race ancestry into the more socially dominant of the parents' races.
   • 2002, Joel Perlmann, The New Race Question: How the Census Counts Multiracial Individuals:

     In contrast, American Indians have generally been identified by hyperdescent, a principle that stipulates some minimum amount of ancestry as a necessary condition for qualification.

• hypodescent