color

Where does the word "color" come from? It comes from Latin color, passing through Old French before entering English (1200s).

Color’s story begins in Latin: color meant “colour, hue.” Possibly related to 'celare', to hide: a covering; Pliny the Elder says the great Greek painters such as Apelles worked with only four colours. By medieval, the word had taken hold in Old French as colour. Gave the British spelling 'colour'. It reached English by 1200s as color. Noah Webster's dictionary made 'color' standard in America; Isaac Newton's Opticks (1704) split white light into seven colours. Today, color means the property of reflecting light of a particular wavelength.

1. Stage 1 · Latin · ancient color "colour, hue", possibly related to 'celare', to hide: a covering; Pliny the Elder says the great Greek painters such as Apelles worked with only four colours.
2. Stage 2 · Old French · medieval colour "colour", gave the British spelling 'colour'.
3. Stage 3 · English · 1200s color "hue", Noah Webster's dictionary made 'color' standard in America; Isaac Newton's Opticks (1704) split white light into seven colours.