Colored is a term used in the United States, predominantly in the South during the racial segregation era, and the United Kingdom to describe people who were not categorized as "white" or those with mixed racial heritage. Most commonly, the term was used to refer to black people (i.e., persons of sub-Saharan African ancestry; members of the African (or Negroid) race). Since the success of the African-American Civil Rights Movement, the term, along with "negro" and others, has been largely replaced by "black" and (in the US) "African American". According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word colored was first used in the 14th Century, but with a meaning other than race or ethnicity. In other English-speaking countries, the term – often spelled coloured – has varied meanings. In South Africa, Namibia, Botswana , Zambia and Zimbabwe, the name coloured (often capitalized) refers both to a specific ethnic group of complex mixed origins, which is considered neither black nor white, and in other contexts (usually lower case) to people of mixed race. In British usage, the term refers to "a person who is wholly or partly of non-white descent" and its use may be regarded as antiquated or offensive, and other terms are preferable, particularly when referring to a single ethnicity.

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