Etymograph

English

color

Color comes from Middle English colour, from Anglo-Norman colur, from Old French colour, from Latin color.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcolor1‘color’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400colour1‘colour’
  3. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400colur1
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500colour1‘colour’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1770color1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English color
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1770, Parliamentary Privilege Act 1770: “no such action, suit, or any other process or…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcolorWiktionary, English color‘color’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400colourWiktionary, English color‘colour’
  3. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400colurWiktionary, English color
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500colourWiktionary, English color‘colour’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1770colorWiktionary, English color. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1770, Parliamentary Privilege Act 1770: “no such action, suit, or any other process or…”

The story

Largely displaced English blee, Middle English blee (‘color’), from Old English blēo. Also partially replaced Old English hīew (‘color’) and its descendants (English hue), which is less often used in this sense. The spelling color was popularized in modern American English by Noah Webster, to match the spelling of the word's Latin etymon, and make all American spellings of the derivatives consistent (colorimeter, coloration, colorize, colorless, etc).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- ‘to cover’

hell, cell, hall, hole, ceiling, hull, helmet, holder, halt, helm, hollow, holden, occult, conceal, uphold, clandestine, sari, sala, cilia, recline, declination, declension, haugh, seel, halberd, hele, holing, 37 more

through Latin color ‘color (US), colour (UK)’

tricolour, 4 more

Today it means

noun The spectral composition of visible light.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “color”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin color / color

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