Etymology
1. c.1225, from O.Fr.
colur, from L.
color (acc.
colorem) "color, hue," from Old L.
colos, orig. "a covering" (akin to
celare "to hide, conceal"), from PIE base
*kel- "to cover, conceal" (see cell). O.E. words for "color" were
hiw, bleo. The verb is from c.1300, earliest use is figurative.
Colorful "interesting" is from 1889.
Color-blind first recorded 1844.
Colors "flag of a regiment or ship" is from 1590.
Colored in reference to "non-white skin" dates from 1611.
Coloring book is from 1931.
2. Etymology tree
3. Proto-Indo-European *ḱel-
4. Proto-Indo-European *-os
5. Proto-Indo-European *-s
6. Proto-Indo-European *-ōs
7. Proto-Indo-European *ḱélōs
8. Proto-Italic *kelōs
9. Old Latin colōs
10. Latin color
11. Old French color
12. Anglo-Norman colurbor.
13. Middle English colour
14. English color
15. From Middle English colour, color, borrowed from Anglo-Norman colur, from Old French colour, color, from Latin color. Doublet of couleur.
16. 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.
17. 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). See: Latin '
color'.
Verbs referencing "color"
Manx
cullyr.