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

Paige was the first Negro Leaguer inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1971, five years after Ted Williams used his induction speech to advocate for Negro Leaguers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

It wasn’t until 1989, in fact, that the Indianapolis Clowns officially disbanded, having outlasted the Negro Leagues themselves by several decades.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026

For instance, we launched a plane repair project in Rio Negro, made possible because we have specialized aeronautical technical schools.

From Barron's ● May 14, 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

I look around and notice a Negro woman who has a small child with her.

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

Tubman’s property includes a visitor center, her residence and the Tubman Home for Aged and Indigent Negroes.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 25, 2022

There were some two hundred Negroes of the Ethiopian Regiment present, clustered around three flames that scarce would have warmed ten.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson