Negroid also has been used to describe a combination of human physical features that often include a broad nose, kinky or curly hair, and dark skin pigmentation. There are other Negroid peoples, however, such as some Nilotic, Cushitic and Australoid peoples, who have straight hair and narrower features who are also considered Negroid. The facio-cranial characteristics of the classic Negroid phenotype include rounded eye sockets, a rounded nasal cavity and maxillary and/or alveolar Prognathism.
The term Negroid lately has met with some criticism because of an association with historical sociological and anthropological theories now often considered racist. Additionally, it is derived from Negro, a term many consider pejorative or passé because of an association with the trans-Atlantic slave trade and white subjugation. Alternatively, Africoid is being used in some quarters, most notably among blacks themselves. The term is considered by them devoid of the negative associations of Negroid and, like the two other terms commonly used to describe racial groupings, connects the population it describes to a geographic point of origin. Mongoloid and Caucasoid still are used, generally without challenge, to describe a set of features associated with Asian and primarily European peoples, respectively. Another word sometimes used instead of Negroid is Congoid. Nonetheless, Negroid is the commonly used term in scientific literature.