White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European ancestry, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view.

Description of populations as "White" in reference to their skin color predates this notion and is occasionally found in Greco-Roman ethnography and other ancient or medieval sources, but these societies did not have any notion of a White or pan-European race. The term "White race" or "White people", defined by their light skin among other physical characteristics, entered the major European languages in the later seventeenth century, when the concept of a "unified White" achieved universal acceptance in Europe, in the context of racialized slavery and unequal social status in the European colonies. Scholarship on race distinguishes the modern concept from pre-modern descriptions, which focused on physical complexion rather than race. Prior to the modern era, no European peoples regarded themselves as "White", but rather defined their race, ancestry, or ethnicity in terms of their nationality.

Contemporary anthropologists and other scientists, while recognizing the reality of biological variation between different human populations, regard the concept of a unified, distinguishable "White race" as a social construct with no scientific basis.