annas in the rupee

English

Etymology

A rupee was worth 16 annas, so eight annas represented a half-and-half mixture, and so on.

Noun

annas in the rupee pl (plural only)

1. (Anglo-India, archaic, colloquial, offensive) Used with a number to indicate the degree of an individual's mixed racial descent.
   • 1930, The Royal Engineers Journal, volume 44, page 285:

     By the end of the second day he was so dark that he looked to be at least eight annas in the rupee […]

   • 2007, Indu Sundaresan, The Splendor of Silence, page 98:

     And in the end, all knew that it was true, Rosalie was only four annas in the rupee.