color

pronunciation

How to pronounce color in British English: UK ['kʌlə(r)] word uk audio image

How to pronounce color in American English: US [ˈkʌlɚ] word us audio image

Noun:

a visual attribute of things that results from the light they emit or transmit or reflect
interest and variety and intensity
the timbre of a musical sound
a race with skin pigmentation different from the white race (especially Blacks)
an outward or token appearance or form that is deliberately misleading
any material used for its color
(physics) the characteristic of quarks that determines their role in the strong interaction; each flavor of quarks comes in three colors
the appearance of objects (or light sources) described in terms of a person's perception of their hue and lightness (or brightness) and saturation
Verb:

add color to
affect as in thought or feeling
modify or bias
decorate with colors
gloss or excuse
change color, often in an undesired manner
Adjective:

having or capable of producing colors

Word Origin

color (n.): early 13c., "skin color, complexion," from Old French color "color, complexion, appearance" (Modern French couleur), from Latin color "color of the skin; color in general, hue; appearance," from Old Latin colos, originally "a covering" (akin to celare "to hide, conceal"), from PIE root *kel- (2) "to cover, conceal" (see cell). For sense evolution, compare Sanskrit varnah "covering, color," related to vrnoti "covers," and also see chroma. Meaning "visible color, color of something" is attested in English from c. 1300. As "color as a property of things," from late 14c. Old English words for "color" were hiw ("hue"), bleo.