Marabou is a term of Haitian origin denoting Haitians of multiracial ancestry. The term comes originally from the African Marabouts. Marabous are mainly descended from intermingling between Africans, Europeans and Taino but may also have Indian and Chinese ancestry. The Marabou label dates to the colonial period of Haiti's history, meaning the offspring of a mulatto and a griffe person. However, Médéric-Louis-Elie Moreau de Saint-Méry, in his three volume work on the colony, describes Marabous as the product of the union of an African/European and a Taino.