The term mustee was also used to refer to a person with one-eighth African ancestry, while mustefino refers to a person with one-sixteenth African ancestry.

Many dictionaries, however, incorrectly attribute the word "mestee" to a corruption of mestizo.

Before the American Civil War, the term mestee was common for certain people of mixed descent.

A similar word, mestee, is derived from Middle French mestis (pronounced the same), which became métis in modern French.

The word has essentially the same origin as mestee in English, mestizo in Spanish and métis in French.

The term is of French origin, and also is a cognate of mestizo in Spanish, mestiço in Portuguese, and mestee in English.

Mestee, once widely used, is now used mostly for members of historically mixed-race groups, such as Louisiana Creoles, Melungeons, Redbones, Brass Ankles and Mayles.

Redbone is a term historically used in much of the southern United States, particularly in Louisiana, to refer to a Métis or Mestee ethnic group of mixed racial heritage.

The designation "mestee" was formerly widely used in the United States for mixed-race individuals, but after the Civil War the term gradually fell into disuse as an effect of the "one-drop rule", under which anyone with any known Sub-Saharan African ancestry is considered black.