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
- 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.
- The colour of a person's skin, as a sign of race.
- Redness of the face; a healthy complexion: the color returned to her cheeks.
- Interest, vividness or character: local color.
- colors: A flag, as of a regiment or ship; the badge or uniform of a team.
- A false appearance or pretext: under color of law.
Verb
- To give color to, as by painting or dyeing.
- To influence or distort: anger colored his judgment.
- To blush.
Word family
- colorer
- colorable
- colored
- decolor
- discolor
- miscolor
- overcolor
- precolor
Related words
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
- ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ 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
- ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ 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
- ^ 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
- ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
- ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press