Negro

noun

Ne·​gro ˈnē-(ˌ)grō 

plural Negroes

1

dated, often offensive : a person of Black African ancestry

2

dated, often offensive : a member of a group of people formerly considered to constitute a race (see race entry 1 sense 1a) of humans having African ancestry and classified according to physical traits (such as dark skin pigmentation)

Negro adjective dated, often offensive

Negroid

ˈnē-ˌgrȯid 

adjective or noun

or less commonly negroid

dated, often offensive

Negroness

ˈnē-grō-nəs 

noun dated, often offensive

Usage of Negro and Negress

The terms Negro and, to a lesser extent, Negress were formerly in common use, but began to fall out of favor in the 1960s, and by the 1980s had largely been replaced in nonhistorical contexts by Black and African American. A few organizations continue to use Negro in their names, reflecting the historical preference for the term: the full name of the UNCF, a philanthropic education organization founded in the mid-20th century, is the United Negro College Fund, also called the United Fund; and the Negro League Baseball Museum, which documents the Black baseball leagues active largely between 1920 and the late 1940s, continues to carry the name used by those leagues. The use of Negro in these contexts and others like them is not regarded as offensive. Both Negro and Negress are sometimes used by Black people in self-reference, but use of either term by others is offensive.

Word History

Etymology

Spanish or Portuguese, from negro black, from Latin nigr-, niger

First Known Use

1555, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Kids Definition

Negro

1 of 2 noun

Ne·​gro ˈnē-grō 

plural Negroes

often offensive

: a person of Black African ancestry

—used especially in the past

Negro

2 of 2 adjective

often offensive

: of or relating to people of Black African ancestry

—used especially in the past

Etymology

from Spanish Negro or Portuguese Negro "a person of Black African ancestry," derived from Latin nigr-, niger "black"

Geographical Definition

Negro

geographical name

Ne·​gro ˈnā-(ˌ)grō 

ˈne-

1

river 400 miles (640 kilometers) long in south central Argentina flowing east into the Atlantic

2

river 1400 miles (2253 kilometers) long in eastern Colombia and northern Brazil flowing into the Amazon River

3

river 434 miles (698 kilometers) long in central Uruguay flowing southwest into the Uruguay River