colorate

C3O1L1O1R1A1T1E1
/ˈkʌləɹeɪt//ˈkʌləɹət/

verb

To apply color to something; to make colorful.

OriginEnglish color ← Middle English colour ← Anglo-Norman colur →
Scrabble 10
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Meanings

colorate1

verbcolorate (third-person singular simple present colorates, present participle colorating, simple past and past participle colorated)

present singular third person colorates · participle present colorating · participle past colorated · past colorated

  1. To apply color to something; to make colorful.

colorate2

adjectivecolorate (comparative more colorate, superlative most colorate)

comparative more colorate · superlative most colorate

  1. obsoleteColored.

    had the tunicles and humours of the eye , all , or any of them , been colorate , many of the rays proceeding from the viſible object would have been stopped and ſuffocated before they could come to the bottom

    1691, John Ray, The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation. […], London: […] Samuel Smith, […], →OCLC

Origin

colorate · verb

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱel-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ḱélōs
  3. Proto-Italic*kelōs
  4. Old Latincolōs
  5. Latincolor
  6. Old Frenchcolor
  7. Anglo-Normancolur
  8. Middle Englishcolour
  9. Englishcolor
  10. Englishcolorate

From color + -ate (verb-forming suffix).

Full word history & related roots →

colorate · adjective

  1. Latincolōrātus
  2. Englishcolorate

From Latin colōrātus, past participle of colōrō (“to color”). Equivalent to color + -ate (adjective-froming suffix)

More words from Latin

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

colorate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/colorate

MLA

“colorate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/colorate. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “colorate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/colorate.

Source: colorate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.