color

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈkʌl.ə/, US /ˈkʌl.ɚ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English colour, colur,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman culur, coulour, Old French color, colour “color, complexion, appearance” (modern couleur),^[4][2] from Latin color (“color of the skin; hue; appearance”),^[4][2] Old Latin colōs, originally “a covering”,^[4] related to cēlō (“I hide, conceal”),^[4][2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to cover, conceal”).^[4] Sanskrit varṇa- “covering, color” shows a similar development.^[4] The Old English words for color were hīw, the source of hue, and blēo.^[4] The verb is from Old French colorer, from Latin colōrāre.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Skin color, complexion: about 1225, in King Horn,^[2] the early 13th century.^[4] The color of an object, a hue or tint, is from about 1300,^[4] probably before 1300 in Kyng Alisaunder,^[2] and about 1290 in the OED.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Colour was the usual English spelling from the 14th century, from Anglo-French;^[4] classical correction made color an alternative from the 15th century, and it became the established spelling in the United States.^[4] From about 1300 a color was also a distinctive mark of identification, as on a badge or livery, originally a coat of arms,^[4] hence the colors of a regiment or a ship.^[6][7] Color as an inherent quality of matter perceived by the eye is from the late 14th century^[4] (1398 in the OED).^[5] The verb, “to give color to”, is from the late 14th century^[4][2] or about 1325,^[5] and figuratively “to make something appear different from what it is” from the same time.^[4][5] “To blush” is from 1721.^[4] Colorless is from about 1380,^[2] coloration from 1626, in Bacon,^[2] color-blind from 1854^[2] and colorful from 1889.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1225 – complexion.^[2]
• c. 1300 – a hue; a badge of identification.^[4]
• c. 1325 – verb, to give color to.^[5]
• c. 1380 – colorless.^[2]
• 1398 – color as a property of objects.^[5]
• 1626 – coloration.^[2]
• 1721 – verb, to blush.^[4]
• 1854 – color-blind.^[2]
• 1889 – colorful.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The property of objects of producing different sensations on the eye, as a result of the way they reflect or emit light; a particular hue, such as red or blue.
2. The colour of a person's skin, as a sign of race.
3. Redness of the face; a healthy complexion: the color returned to her cheeks.
4. Interest, vividness or character: local color.
5. colors: A flag, as of a regiment or ship; the badge or uniform of a team.
6. A false appearance or pretext: under color of law.

Verb

1. To give color to, as by painting or dyeing.
2. To influence or distort: anger colored his judgment.
3. To blush.

Word family

• colorer
• colorable
• colored
• decolor
• discolor
• miscolor
• overcolor
• precolor

Related words

• coloration
• colour
• colorful
• hue
• conceal
• cell
• hell

Usage notes

Colour is the British spelling.^[8][4] A separate 18th-century cant word colour meant a dupe, the same as cully.^[5]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press