color and colour are homophones: they are pronounced identically and spelled differently, which is why they are so often swapped. color means “a visual attribute of things that results from the light they emit or transmit or reflect”. colour means “any material used for its color”. color is the more common of the two in everyday English.
/ˈkʌlɚ/
1.n.a visual attribute of things that results from the light they emit or transmit or reflect
“a white color is made up of many different wavelengths of light”
2.n.interest and variety and intensity
“the Puritan Period was lacking in color”
3.n.the timbre of a musical sound
“the recording fails to capture the true color of the original music”
| color | colour | |
|---|---|---|
| Pronunciation | /ˈkʌlɚ/ | /ˈkʌlɚ/ |
| Said | KUHL-ur | KUHL-ur |
| Syllables | 2 | 2 |
| Letters | 5 | 6 |
| Parts of speech | noun, verb, adjective | noun, verb, adjective |
| Senses | 14 | 14 |
| How common | Core | Common |
| Synonyms | colour, coloring, colouring | coloring material, colouring material, color |
Full entry for color · Full entry for colour · More comparisons
/ˈkʌlɚ/
1.n.any material used for its color
“she used a different color for the trim”
2.n.(physics) the characteristic of quarks that determines their role in the strong interaction
“each flavor of quarks comes in three colors”
3.n.interest and variety and intensity
“the Puritan Period was lacking in color”