negro
nounEtymology Borrowed from Spanish and Portuguese negro (“black”), from Latin nigrum (“shiny black”), of uncertain origin, but possibly from Proto-Indo-European *negʷ- (“bare; night”). Doublet of noir. Compare nigrescence.
- The negroes believe that its presence has a sanitary effect upon their cattle […]1867, Mayne Reid, Quadrupeds: what they are and where found, page 141:
- What Peter said was true but she hated to hear it from a negro and a family negro, too. Not to stand high in the opinion of one's servants was a humiliating a thing as could happen to a Southerner.1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published June 1944, →OCLC, part IV, page 675:
3 more examples
- How can one explain to someone who hasn't lived close to the secret heart of the tropics, at the mercy of their anger and stealth and poison; who hasn't experienced the mystery of the drums, seen the quick workings of magic and the mortal dread it inspires? What can he know of catalepsy, and thought-transference and the sixth sense of fish, of birds, of negroes; the deadly meaning of a white chicken's feather, a crossed stick in the road, a little leather bag of bones and herbs?1954, Ian Fleming, “Allumeuse”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 108:
- There were two negros who were guilty of thieving; he went and had them both shot, and gave notice that he would put all to death who kept disturbing the property of the white people, and kept confusion in their land.2003, Benjamin Hawkins, Howard Thomas Foster, The Collected Works of Benjamin Hawkins, 1796–1810, page 259:
- His parents had always said that the area he grew up in had been a nice place to live before 'those Negros invaded'.2010, Ryan Acheson, Chalk, page 68:
2
Archaic A slave, especially one of African ancestry.
- We don't want your Negroes, or your horses, or your lands, or any thing you have, but we do want and will have a just obedience to the laws of the United States. That we will have, and if it involved the destruction of your improvements, we cannot help it.1864, William Tecumseh Sherman, General William Tecumseh Sherman to the Mayor and Councilmen of Atlanta:
- Synonyms
- blackamoor, black, Black, African-American
- Derived terms
43 terms
antinegro, benegro, house negro, incognegro, kneegrow, magical negro, magic negro, negress, negrification, negrify, negro ant, Negrobilia, negro bug, negro corn, negrodom, negro fatigue, negrofication, negrofy, negrohead, Negrohood, negro-house, negroid, negroish, negroism, negroization, negroize, Negroland, negrolatry, negro lethargy, negrolike, negrophile, negrophilia, negrophiliac, negrophilic, negrophilism, negrophilist, negrophobic, negro powder, negro spiritual, negro yam, New Negro, wash a negro white, white negro- Related terms
- barro negro, mulatto, octaroon, quadroon
- Hypernyms
- colored, colored person, person of color
- Hyponyms
- Afro-American, African-American, negress