Morena brunette or something else?

Question

I used morera in a sentence with the meaning of brunette in a private lesson and my teacher reacted strangely. I asked why and she told morena is a (not necessarly good) word for a black person. I learned it here on Spanishdict Is this alternative and apparently negative meaning common or is it only in some areas? I do not want to inadvertently say something that will be offensive.

Sue

I have never heard that before. I heard "morena" used for women that have tan / darker colored skin, but it was never offensive. - NikkiLR, Feb 12, 2012

Answer 1

Wow, I have never heard of anyone being offended, although I learn something new every day!

It does refer to both hair color and skin color. One of my colleagues from Honduras would refer to our students sometimes by their skin color: los morenitos, los blanquitos. She was the least offensive human being in the world, in fact she used to refer to herself sometimes as "Morenita".

In many cases the term "brunette" isn't a very good translation, in that what we might call "brown hair" in English would still be considered "rubio" in Spanish. It needs to be a dark shade of brown to go into the "moreno" category, at least in my neck of the woods.

Answer 2

She said to use "pelo castaño"

Sue

I suppose that is the safe way. Though, the usage would be different. Like the difference in "She is a brunette.", and "She has brown hair.". I suppose I could survive without a clean translation for "brunette". - ciscocaja, Feb 12, 2012

From what I can tell though, the word is not inherently offensive. Although, I'm sure it could be said in an insulting tone by someone with a much better command of the language than myself. - ciscocaja, Feb 12, 2012

Answer 3

At least in Spain, morena normally has no negative meaning, and it can mean tanned: te has puesto muy morenita!

Answer 4

Brunete

Morena

Well, according our dictionary, it does indeed mean "brunette". However, "morena" also has meanings such as "tan" and "mulatto". According to this website, "mulatto" can be offensive since its origins are in the world "mule", and "biracial" should be used instead.

Answer 5

According to my internet searches, it is not typically considered an offensive term. Although, the political correctness machine keeps churning, so maybe it's heading that way. It is used as descriptive of race in addition to simply hair color. Did your teacher mention a word she would have preferred?