colour

SayKUL-uh/ˈkʌl.ə/AUS[ˈkʰɐɫ.ɐ]KUL-er/ˈkʌl.ɚ/

Pluralcolours

Verbcolours, colouring, coloured

US spellingcolor

29 meanings of colour

Practice

1
shadenouncountable or uncountable
What makes things look red, green, blue and so on, or one of these shades.
What colour is your new coat?
Blue and green are my favourite colours.
UsageAsk what colour something is. To answer, just say the colour: it is blue (not ~~incorrect: blue colour~~).
Similarshade, hue, tint, tone
2
not just greysnoununcountable
Having colours such as red or blue, not just black, white and grey, for example in a photo or film.
A pot of red flowers added a bit of colour to the grey kitchen.
The old photo had faded so much that almost no colour was left in it.
UsageA photo or film is in colour or in black and white. A little colour is a bit of colour.
Oppositemonochrome
Note
3
adjective
Showing red, blue and other shades, not just black, white and grey.
Grandad still remembers the day his family got their first colour television.
The colour printer at school has run out of ink.
UsageUsually before a noun: a colour TV. A colourful thing is bright, with lots of different colours.
Oppositemonochrome
4
tint somethingverbtransitive
To make something red, blue or another colour, for example with paint or dye.
Let's colour the eggs blue and pink for Easter.
She coloured her hair bright red for the party.
UsagePut the colour after the thing, and what you use after with: colour the eggs blue with food dye.
Similartint, dye, stain, tinge
5
skin tonenoununcountable
How light or dark a person's skin is, especially as a sign of their race.
The club welcomes everyone, whatever their colour or religion.
Nobody should be treated differently because of their colour.
UsageOften in phrases about fairness: whatever their colour, treated badly because of their colour.
6
team kitnouncountableplural
The special colours that stand for a team, club, school or racehorse owner, and the clothes in them.
The fans walked to the football ground wearing their team's colours.
The jockey wore the owner's green and yellow colours.
UsageWe usually say colours, even for one colour: the team's colours are red. Players play in their colours.
Similarstrip, kit, silks
7
dye (substance)nouncountable or uncountable
Something like a dye that you add to things such as hair or food to change their colour.
The hairdresser put the colour on my hair and left it for half an hour.
Add a few drops of red food colour to make the icing pink.
UsageFood packets list colours, such as artificial colours. For cakes at home, people also say food colouring.
Similardye, tint, pigment
8
fill in drawingsverbintransitive
To use crayons or coloured pens to fill in the shapes of a picture.
The twins sat at the kitchen table and coloured quietly for an hour.
Can I colour while you read the story?
UsagePeople often say colour in. A book of pictures to colour is a colouring book.
9
nounfigurativelyuncountable
Interesting or lively details that make something more fun to read, hear or see.
Her funny stories add a lot of colour to the history lessons.
The street musicians and market stalls give the old town plenty of local colour.
UsagePeople often say local colour, the special details of a place. Funny stories can add colour to a lesson.
Similarflavour, vividness, liveliness, interest
10
musical tonenouncountable or uncountable
The special quality of a sound, like the difference between a violin and a flute playing the same note.
The clarinet gives the slow part of the music a warm colour.
Each singer in the choir brings a slightly different colour to the song.
Similartimbre, tone
Note

Less common meanings

11
flagnouncountableusually plural
A flag that stands for a country, a ship, a group of soldiers or a team.
The ship was flying French colours as it came into the harbour.
The club's colours flew from the flagpole above the stadium.
UsagePeople usually say colours, even for one flag: the colours were raised. A ship sails under a country's colours.
Similarflag, ensign, banner
12
influenceverbtransitive
To have an effect on something, such as the way someone sees things, without changing it completely.
One rainy day should not colour your whole holiday.
Her own childhood coloured the way she brought up her children.
UsageWe often say something is coloured by something else: her memories were coloured by sadness.
Similarinfluence, affect, bias, prejudice, skew
13
nouncountable or uncountable
The colour of someone's face, which shows how healthy they are or how they feel, such as red cheeks.
After a week at the seaside, the colour was back in her cheeks.
His colour rose when the teacher read his poem out to the class.
UsageWhen someone goes pale, the colour drains from their face; when they feel better, it comes back.
Note
14
verbintransitive
To become a different colour, like food going brown as it cooks or leaves in autumn.
Fry the onions slowly until they colour.
By late October the leaves in the park had coloured and started to fall.
Similarbrown, turn
15
describe asverbcolloquialtransitive
To say what someone or something is like. 'Colour me surprised' is a joking way of saying 'I am surprised'.
Well, colour me surprised: the bus was actually on time for once.
Colour me impressed: my little brother tidied his room without being asked.
UsagePeople say colour me + a word like surprised, as a joke, to say how they feel.
Similarpaint, portray, cast, depict
16
political sidenouncountable or uncountable
The side that a person, government or newspaper is on in politics, such as the party they support.
You can guess the newspaper's political colour from the way it writes about the election.
People of all political colours came to the meeting to save the local hospital.
UsageWe usually say political colour: people of all political colours.
17
snooker ballnouncountable
In snooker, any ball that is not one of the reds or the white ball.
After potting a red, you have to try to pot a colour.
She cleared all the colours and won the game.
Note
18
blushverbintransitive
To go red in the face because more blood comes into the skin.
Tom coloured when everyone sang to him on his birthday.
Her cheeks always colour when she has to speak in front of the class.
UsageYou can say why: she coloured at the joke, or he coloured with embarrassment.
Similarblush, redden, flush
Oppositepale, blanch
19
sports awardnouncountableusually plural
A prize from a school or university for doing well, especially in sport.
She got her colours for netball this year.
Only three players from the hockey team were given colours.
UsageYou get your colours for a sport, such as your colours for hockey.
20
cover storynoununcountable
A false reason or show that someone uses to hide what they are really doing.
He made friends with the old man under the colour of kindness, but he only wanted his money.
Under colour of helping the poor, the king raised taxes and kept the money.
UsageWe usually say under colour of or under the colour of something: under colour of helping.
Similarguise, pretext, pretence, cover
Note
21
apparent authoritynoununcountable
The look of having a legal right or official power to do something.
They closed the market under colour of an old law that nobody had used for years.
The soldiers took food from the farms under colour of the king's orders.
UsageMostly in law, in phrases like under colour of law or under colour of office.
Note
22
gang symbolsnounplural
Special clothes or signs that people wear to show which gang they belong to.
The two men were wearing gang colours when the police stopped them.
He stopped wearing his colours after he left the gang.
Similarinsignia, emblems
23
noun
In the armed forces, the event each morning when the flag is raised.
24
noun
Any of the dark colours, such as blue, red, black or green, that are allowed on a coat of arms.
25
noun
In the study of speech, the particular sound that makes one vowel different from another.
26
verb
Of one speech sound, to change how another sound, usually a vowel, is said.
27
noun
Small bits of gold that people find when they search the ground for it.
28
noun
In physics, a property of the tiny particles called quarks, which comes in three kinds named red, green and blue.
29
verb
In maths, to give points in a network or areas on a map colours so that neighbours never match.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of colour apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

Colour comes from the Latin word color, through Old French and Middle English. Noah Webster made the spelling color popular in American English.

Checked 4 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

Colour comes through Middle English and Old French from Latin color. en.wiktionary.org
Noah Webster popularised color in American English. en.wikipedia.org