Also 8 kackerlake, 9 kakerlak, kakkerlac. [Du. kakkerlak, G. kakerlak cockroach, albino, believed to be of S. American origin. F. has kakerla(t, cancrelat in sense 1, kakerlaque, chacrelas in sense 2 (Littré).
The avoidance of light is supposed to be the connecting link between the senses.]
1. = COCKROACH, q.v.
1813. [see COCKROACH].
1883. Cassell’s Nat. Hist., VI. 132. This family [the Blattidæ] includes the numerous species of Cockroaches, or Kakerlaks.
2. An albino (the Dutch name in Java.
1777. Robertson, Hist. Amer. (1790), II. IV. 69. The Kackerlakes are a degenerate breed, not a separate class of men.
1888. in Syd. Soc. Lex.
Hence Kakkerlakism [F. kakerlaquisme], a synonym for albinism as existing in Java. (Syd. Soc. Lex.)
