Coloured
1
9.9
- noun
- Slur
- In South Africa, the term Coloured was used to classify people of mixed race during apartheid.
- Cape Coloured
Examples
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The Separate Representation of Voters Act, which was enacted in 1956, prohibited Whites and Coloured (as well as Indians and Africans) from belonging to the same political party and removed Coloured voters from the roll.
Academic text (1990) -
You should never put coloureds in with whites.
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So we move the coloureds in and the old ladies move out, and I buy their flats cheap.
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Afrikaners and Coloured are "related to each other," he said, "having a common destiny" 52 and therefore could be the bridge between black and white.
Academic text (1990) -
Consider the position today of the mixed-race "Cape Coloured" people there, where they have existed for almost 350 years.
Academic text (2001) -
It concentrates on the relations between Afrikaans-speaking whites or Afrikaners and coloureds in the Cape metropolitan area.
Academic text (1992) -
The history of the Coloured community in South Africa reflects the complexities of racial identity.
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Many Coloured individuals still face discrimination despite the end of apartheid.
Compounds
Surface Forms
Morphology
Coloured = colour (opaque) = colour + ed
Standard adjectival formation from 'colour' + '-ed' yielding 'having colour' which is directly inferable.
Etymology
The word Coloured comes from the simple English word colour, meaning 'skin colour', and it was used to label people by how they looked. Because it became an official label in places like South Africa and was used to separate and control people, it is now seen as hurtful and outdated, so it should not be used.