English

Alternative forms

• negro

Noun

Negro ‎(plural Negroes or Negros)

1. (dated) A person with black or dark brown skin and of sub-Saharan African descent.
   • 1963, Martin Luther King, Letter from a Birmingham Jail,

     Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro. Something within has reminded him of his birthright of freedom, and something without has reminded him that it can be gained.

Hyponyms

• negress / Negress

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• genro
• goner
• Norge

English

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

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 post-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.^[3]

See also discussion at Wikipedia.

Related terms

• negress
• negroid

Translations

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 […]

Derived terms

• negro yam

Translations

Synonyms

(noun):

• blackamoor
• Ethiopian

(adjective and noun):

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

Hyponyms

(adjective and noun):

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

Hypernyms

(noun):

• colored
• colored person
• person of color

See also

• mulatto
• octaroon
• quadroon

Anagrams

• genro
• goner
• Norge

References

1. ↑ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill
2. ↑ Watkins, Calvert, ed., The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots, 2nd ed., Houghton Mifflin Co., 2000.
3. ↑ When Did the Word Negro Become Taboo? In 1966 or soon thereafter. By Brian Palmer, Slate.com, Jan. 11, 2010

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.”

Derived terms

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

Hyponyms

• negrino ‎(“negress”)

Galician

Etymology

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

Adjective

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

1. black (colour)

See also

Italian

Alternative forms

• nero

Etymology

From Latin nigrum, accusative form of niger.

Pronunciation

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

Adjective

negro m ‎(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

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

Portuguese

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

Noun

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

1. negro

Adjective

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

1. black (color)

Related terms

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin nigrum, accusative of niger.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ne‧gro

Noun

negro m ‎(plural negros)

1. the black colour
2. the black ethnicity

Adjective

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

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

Derived terms

• cisne negro
• dejar negro
• pantera negra
• poner negro

See also