http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongoloid
Mongoloid (or less often Sinoid) is a racial classification
including peoples of North Asia, Central Asia, East Asia, the
Pacific Oceania, the Americas, Greenland, and even a few of Eastern
Europe. Earlier terms include Mongolian race and Asiatic. Some
definitions have not included Native Americans.
Racial classification and even the existence of race is
controversial. Please see Race, Validity of human races, Race
(historical definitions), Scientific racism, and Linnaeus for
discussion of these subjects.
The -oid racial terms are now controversial in both technical and
nontechnical contexts and are likely to give offense no matter how
they are used. [1] Mongoloid is considered "an archaic term" by a
modern anthropological textbook The Human Species copyrighted in
2003, on page 126.
Mongoloid properly applies to physical traits and not to
contemporary or historic definitions of racial or social groups.
Some current terms for the latter are Asian, East Asian, Southeast
Asian, and Oriental; however the range of Mongoloid does not
correspond exactly to any one of these. While East and most
Southeast Asians are physically Mongoloid, most South Asians are
not.
Since people with the disability Down syndrome have some
superficial Mongoloid facial features, the term "Mongoloid" was
once also used as a synonym for "retarded." This usage, once
neutral, is now considered offensive.
