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

It was only a matter whether coach Jason Negro was going to use his backups to spread playing time.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 12, 2026

"We're asking ourselves a lot of questions," said 68-year-old Giuliano Del Negro, who attended a recent meeting held to inform residents about the plans.

From Barron's • Jun. 5, 2026

It could have been in a mountainous region in Patagonia, he said, perhaps in the provinces of Chubut, Neuquén or Río Negro.

From BBC • May 10, 2026

Exxon’s team inspected the Cerro Negro heavy-oil project that it operated before 2007 when Hugo Chávez’s government nationalized much of the country’s energy infrastructure.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 1, 2026

Then led by Dr. Dorothy Height, the National Council of Negro Women focused on the economic problems facing Black women.

From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson