Meanings
- USdatedderogatoryslanguncountablesometimes reclaimedA notional system of time (or time zone) which others sometimes derogatorily ascribe to African Americans, and which they sometimes jocularly ascribe to themselves, to account for their supposed tendency to be tardy.
“Colored People's Time,” King said with a grin. “It always takes us longer to get where we're going.”
1967 January 27, Martin Luther King, Jr., quoted in Stephen B. Oates, Let the Trumpet Sound (1994), p. 338Synonyms: CP Time, CP time, CPT, Colored People Time
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA notional system of time (or time zone) which others sometimes derogatorily ascribe to African Americans, and which they sometimes jocularly ascribe to themselves, to account for their supposed tendency to be tardy.
Origin
From its facetious treatment as a time zone.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Colored People's Time. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Colored%20People's%20Time
“Colored People's Time.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Colored%20People's%20Time. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Colored People's Time,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Colored%20People's%20Time.
Source: Colored People's Time on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.