The 1595 work Drake's Voyages first used the term in the context of intimate unions producing biracial children. In English, printed usage of mulatto dates to at least the 16th century. According to the same source, the term does not denote being of mixed-race but rather being of foreign-blood and local culture. Thus, in this context, the term muwallad has a meaning close to 'the adopted'. 13th century AD), applied the term to the children of non-Muslim (often Christian) slaves or non-Muslim children who were captured in a war and were raised by Muslims to follow their religion and culture. According to Lisan al-Arab, one of the earliest Arab dictionaries (c. Notable examples of this category include the famous Muslim scholar Ibn Hazm. Specifically, the term was historically applied to the descendants of indigenous Christian Iberians who, after several generations of living among a Muslim majority, adopted their culture and religion. In al-Andalus, muwallad referred to the offspring of non-Arab Muslim people who adopted the Islamic religion and manners. Walad means 'descendant, offspring, scion child son boy young animal, young one'. Muwallad is derived from the root word WaLaD (Arabic: ولد, direct Arabic transliteration: waw, lam, dal) and colloquial Arabic pronunciation can vary greatly. Muwallad literally means 'born, begotten, produced, generated brought up', with the implication of being born and raised among Arabs, but not of Arab blood. Forbes suggests it originated in the Arabic term muwallad, which means 'a person of mixed ancestry'.

The term is now generally considered outdated and offensive in non-Spanish and non-Portuguese speaking countries, and was considered offensive even in the 19th century. The Real Academia Española traces its origin to mulo in the sense of hybridity originally used to refer to any mixed race person.

Some sources suggest that it may derive from the Portuguese word mula (from the Latin mūlus), meaning ' mule', the hybrid offspring of a horse and a donkey. It was a common term in the Southeastern United States during the era of slavery. The English term and spelling mulatto is derived from the Spanish and Portuguese mulato. He was of mixed African and Spanish descent. Juan de Pareja by Diego Velázquez, CE 1650 – Juan de Pareja was born into slavery in Spain.

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