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  

[nay-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  

/ ˈneɪɡrəʊ, ˈnɛɡ- /

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

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Etymology

Origin of Negro

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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Negro Negroes

St. John Bosco coach Jason Negro said there were plenty of lessons to point out to his players.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2026

"There are many strategies right now to limit our voting rights, but we're not going to stop," Alotta Taylor, vice chair for the National Council of Negro Women, told AFP.

From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026

Then you have to retreat with your mind into the music, and allow the music to express a kind of deep belief, like what the Negro spirituals express.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

For 15 years, Roberto Lange, better known artistically as Helado Negro, has been making, beautiful humanistic electronic music that soothes the soul.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026

What Colored schools did have going for them was a dedicated cadre of Negro educators and students hungry to learn.

From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson

“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

You know, Hebrews II Negroes was also the name of my favorite R&B group in the ’90s.

From New York Times ● Nov. 6, 2022

However, the Home for Aged and Indigent Negroes was rebuilt in the early 1950s, and the infirmary was destroyed by fire in 1949.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 25, 2022

These were typical jobs that Negroes took in order to keep their families afloat and move their children ahead.

From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson

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