person of color

per·son of col·or

P p

- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
- [pur-suh n uhv, ov kuhl-er]
- /ˈpɜr sən ʌv, ɒv ˈkʌl ər/
- /ˈpɜːsn əv ˈkʌl.ər/

Definitions of person of color words

noun person of color the quality of an object or substance with respect to light reflected by the object, usually determined visually by measurement of hue, saturation, and brightness of the reflected light; saturation or chroma; hue. 1
noun person of color the natural appearance of the skin, especially of the face; complexion: She has a lovely color. 1
noun person of color a ruddy complexion: The wind and sun had given color to the sailor's face. 1
noun person of color a blush: His remarks brought the color to her face. 1
noun person of color vivid or distinctive quality, as of a literary work: Melville's description of a whaling voyage is full of color. 1
noun person of color details in description, customs, speech, habits, etc., of a place or period: The novel takes place in New Orleans and contains much local color. 1

before 1250

One of the 11% oldest English words

1250-1300; Middle English col(o)ur < Anglo-French (French couleur) < Latin colōr- (stem of color) hue

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 99% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.

Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

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