negro

See also: Negro, négro, and ñegro

English

The term Negro was advanced by American polymath W. E. B. Du Bois.

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish and Portuguese negro (“black”), from Latin nigrum, masculine accusative case of niger (“black”), of uncertain origin, but possibly from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts (“night”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈniɡɹoʊ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈniːɡɹəʊ/

Adjective

negro (not comparable)

1. (dated, now offensive) Relating to the black ethnicity.
   • 1963 April, “Anti-bias Coffee Klatsch: Windy City Interfaith Project Fights Bigotry with Coffee, Cookies and Conversation”, in Ebony, volume XVIII, number 6, Chicago, Ill.: Johnson Publishing Company, ISSN 0012-9011, page 67:

     Recently, on a wintry Sunday, some 2,500 white Chicago area residents embarked on a strange safari across the city, determined to do what most of them had never done before—visit a Negro home. Eager to purge themselves of ignorance about the city's "other half," they were participants in Interracial Home Visit Day, a "Coffee Klatsch" co-sponsored by local Catholic, Jewish and Protestant groups in an effort to eliminate racial bigotry and hate.

2. (dated, now offensive) Black or dark brown in color.

Usage notes

In the United States of America, the word negro is considered acceptable only in a historical context or in proper names such as the United Negro College Fund. Black, which replaced negro from 1966 onward, or the more recent African-American (from the 1980s), are the preferred alternatives, with neither being categorically preferred as an endonym (self-designation) or by publications.

Before 1966, negro was accepted and in fact the usual endonym – consider The Negro, 1915, by W. E. B. Du Bois – which itself replaced the older colored in the 1920s, particularly under the advocacy of Du Bois (who advocated capitalization as Negro). Following the coinage and rise of Black Power and Black pride in the 1960s, particularly after 1966, the term black became preferred, and negro became offensive; in 1968 negro was still preferred by most as a self-designation, while by 1974 black was preferred; usage by publications followed.

See also discussion at Wikipedia.

Related terms

• negress
• negroid

Translations

offensive: relating to the black ethnicity

• Finnish: neekeri- (fi)

• German: schwarz (de)

black or dark brown in color

• German: schwarz (de)

• Maori: kirimangu

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} zwart (nl), ^{(please verify)} zwarte (nl)
• German: ^{(please verify)} schwarz (de)

• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} černošský, ^{(please verify)} čierny

Noun

negro (plural negroes or negros)

1. Alternative letter-case form of Negro
   • 1867, Mayne Reid, Quadrupeds: what they are and where found (page 141)

     The negroes believe that its presence has a sanitary effect upon their cattle […]

Synonyms

(noun):

• blackamoor

(adjective and noun):

• black, Black
• African-American (nonstandard, US)

Hypernyms

(noun):

• colored
• colored person
• person of color

Hyponyms

(adjective and noun):

• Afro-American
• African-American (in the proper sense)
• negress / Negress

Derived terms

• negro yam

Translations

Negro — see Negro

See also

• mulatto
• octaroon
• quadroon

Anagrams

• Egnor, Goren, Groen, Norge, Rogen, ergon, genro, goner, grone, ornge, reong

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Esperanto

Noun

negro (accusative singular negron, plural negroj, accusative plural negrojn)

1. a Negro
   • 1897 June, A. Kofman, “El Heine: La sklavoŝipo”, in Lingvo Internacia, volume 2, number 6-7, page 89:

     “Ses centojn da negroj mi ĉe Senegal
     Akiris je prezo profita,
     Malmola viando, simila al ŝton’,
     La membroj — el ŝtalo forĝita.”

     “600 negros at Senegal I acquired at a profitable price, hard meat, like stone, the members - from steel forged.”

Hyponyms

• negrino (“negress”)

Derived terms

• negreco (“negritude”)
• negristo (“a slave merchant of Negros”)
• negroida (“negroid”)

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Galician

Etymology

From Old Portuguese negro, from Latin nigrum, accusative of niger.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈneɣɾʊ]

Adjective

negro m (feminine singular negra, masculine plural negros, feminine plural negras)

1. black (colour)

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Interlingua

Noun

negro (plural negros)

1. black person, usually black man, negro

Related terms

• negra
• negre

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Italian

Alternative forms

• nero

Etymology

From Latin nigrum, accusative form of niger.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈne.ɡro/, [ˈn̺eːɡr̺o]
• Hyphenation: né‧gro

Adjective

negro (feminine singular negra, masculine plural negri, feminine plural negre)

1. (archaic) black
2. (now offensive) negro

Noun

negro m (plural negri)

1. (now offensive, ethnic slur, now vulgar) nigger

Related terms

• negriero
• negritudine
• negroide
• nero

Anagrams

• regno, regnò
• rogne

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Old Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin nigrum, accusative of niger.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈne.ɡɾo/

Adjective

negro m (plural negros, feminine negra, feminine plural negras)

1. black
   • 13th century, attributed to Alfonso X of Castile, Cantigas de Santa Maria, E codex, cantiga 68 (facsimile):

     […] chus negro ca pez.

     […] blacker than pitch.

Synonyms

• preto

Descendants

• Galician: negro
• Portuguese: negro

See also

Colors in Old Portuguese · coores, colores (layout · text)
branco	gris	negro, preto
vermello	_ ; castanno	amarelo
	verde
		azur
	cardẽo	rosa

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Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Portuguese negro, from Latin nigrum, accusative of niger.

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈne.ɡɾu/, [ˈne.ɣɾu]
• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈne.ɡɾu/
• Hyphenation: ne‧gro

Noun

negro m (plural negros, feminine negra, feminine plural negras)

1. black (the darkest colour)

   Synonym: preto

2. black; negro (dark-skinned person)

   Synonyms: nego (colloquial), preto (often offensive), afrodescendente (formal)

Adjective

negro m (feminine singular negra, masculine plural negros, feminine plural negras, comparable)

1. black in colour

   Synonym: preto

2. black; dark-skinned

   Synonym: preto (often offensive)

3. (literary) dark (associated with evil)

   Cavaleiro negro.

   Dark knight.

Inflection

Inflection of negro

	singular		plural
	masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine
positive	negro	negra	negros	negras
comparative	mais negro	mais negra	mais negros	mais negras
superlative	o mais negro negríssimo	a mais negra negríssima	os mais negros negríssimos	as mais negras negríssimas
augmentative	negrão	negrona	negrões	negronas
diminutive	negrinho	negrinha	negrinhos	negrinhas

Derived terms

Derived terms

• negão
• nego

• negreiro
• negroide

• negrume
• neguinho

Related terms

• negritude
• nigrescente
• nigro-

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Spanish

Etymology

From Latin nigrum, accusative of niger.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈneɡɾo/, [ˈneɣɾo]
• Hyphenation: ne‧gro

Noun

negro m (plural negros)

1. black (colour)

   Antonym: blanco

2. a black person
3. ghost writer

Adjective

negro (feminine singular negra, masculine plural negros, feminine plural negras)

1. black (color)

   Antonym: blanco

2. dirty
3. sad
4. clandestine
5. (Spain) angry

Derived terms

Diminutives

• negrillo

• negrito

Derived terms

• cisne negro
• dejar negro
• pantera negra
• perdiz negra

• poner negro
• albinegro
• carinegro

Further reading

• “negro” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.