Etymology

colourman

C3O1L1O1U1R1M3A1N1

Today it means: A man who sells (and, formerly, prepares) an artist's paints. Full definition →

First used 17th c.Middle English man ← Old English mann ← Proto-West Germanic *mann
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The story

  1. Englishcolour
  2. Proto-Indo-European*mon-
  3. Proto-Germanic*mann-
  4. Proto-West Germanic*mann
  5. Old Englishmann
  6. Middle Englishman
  7. English todaycolourman

From colour + -man.

First known use, by meaning

  • from 17th c. A man who sells (and, formerly, prepares) an artist's paints.
  • from 20th c. A commentator employed to provide background information, analysis, etc., on a given news or sports event.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.