Negro

¹ American  

[nee-groh] / ˈni groʊ /

noun

Negroes plural

1. Anthropology. (no longer in technical use) a member of the peoples traditionally classified as the Negro race, especially those who originate in sub-Saharan Africa.

2. Older Use: Often Offensive. a Black person.

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adjective

1. Anthropology. (no longer in technical use) of, relating to, or characteristic of one of the traditional racial divisions of humankind, generally marked by brown to black skin pigmentation, dark eyes, and tightly curled hair and including especially the Indigenous peoples of Africa south of the Sahara.

2. Older Use. of or relating to Black people, often African Americans: the Negro leagues in baseball.

   a Negro spiritual;

   the Negro leagues in baseball.

Negro ² American  

[ney-groh, ne-graw, ne-groo] / ˈneɪ groʊ, ˈnɛ grɔ, ˈnɛ grʊ /

noun

1. a river in NW South America, flowing SE from E Colombia through N Brazil into the Amazon. 1,400 miles (2,255 km) long.

2. a river in S Argentina, flowing E from the Andes to the Atlantic. 700 miles (1,125 km) long.

3. a river in SE South America, flowing S from Brazil and W through Uruguay, to the Uruguay River. About 500 miles (800 km) long.

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Negro ¹ British  

/ ˈnɛɡ-, ˈneɪɡrəʊ /

noun

1. a river in NW South America, rising in E Colombia (as the Guainía) and flowing east, then south as part of the border between Colombia and Venezuela, entering Brazil and continuing southeast to join the Amazon at Manáus. Length: about 2250 km (1400 miles)

2. a river in S central Argentina, formed by the confluence of the Neuquén and Limay Rivers and flowing east and southeast to the Atlantic. Length: about 1014 km (630 miles)

3. a river in central Uruguay, rising in S Brazil and flowing southwest into the Uruguay River. Length: about 467 km (290 miles)

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Negro ² British  

/ ˈniːɡrəʊ /

noun

1. a member of any of the dark-skinned indigenous peoples of Africa and their descendants elsewhere

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adjective

1. relating to or characteristic of Negroes

Sensitive Note

See Black ¹.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• Negroism
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• Negroes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of Negro

First recorded in 1545–55; from Spanish and Portuguese negro “black,” from Latin nigrum, masculine accusative of niger “black”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Negro Negroes

Gilliam once took Baker to eat lunch at Negro League legend Cool Papa Bell’s home in St. Louis.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

Negro Leaguers weren’t considered for the Hall until Paige was elected into the 1971 class.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

Having moved there to enjoy the countryside peace and quiet, "we'd like Foujou to stay the way it is", Del Negro said.

From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026

Relaunching the Cerro Negro project or starting up a new one would be costly for Exxon.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026

She started the Housewives’ League to help support Negro businesses.

From "Betty Before X" by Ilyasah Shabazz and Renée Watson

“Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy held a secret meeting here yesterday with a group of prominent Negroes to obtain their views on methods of combating segregation and discrimination in the North,” Robinson’s article began.

From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2025

Reporter: The first thorough study of Negroes and how they live in this country was completed only a few months ago.

From Scientific American ● Oct. 26, 2023

In the same interview, he noted ruefully that although he sang music with “roots in the Black culture of American Negroes, Africa and the West Indies,” most of his fans were white.

From New York Times ● Apr. 25, 2023

Irving on Thursday shared a post that linked to a movie called “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America.”

From Washington Post ● Oct. 29, 2022

We Negroes want a chance to be free at last.

From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers