Colorado (English)
Where does "Colorado" come from?
The English place name 'Colorado' derives from the Spanish word 'colorado', meaning 'red, ruddy, or colored'[1], which often described the reddish appearance of silt-laden rivers[1]. This Spanish term was inherited from the Latin 'colōrātus'[3], the perfect passive participle of 'colōrō'[4]. For Brazilian locations, the English name derives from the Portuguese 'colorado'[1], which comes from Old Galician-Portuguese 'colorado'[2].
Full etymology tree
- Colorado (English), 'Places in North America:'
- borrowed colorado (Spanish), 'colored'
- inherited coloratus (Latin), 'coloured'
- derived coloro (Latin), 'to color, tinge, imbue'
- derived color (Latin), 'color (US), colour (UK); shade, hue, tint'
- suffix -o (Latin), 'suffixed to nouns or adjectives. Originally a-stem nouns. Later extended to nouns with other stems. Forms regular first-conjugation verbs'
- derived coloro (Latin), 'to color, tinge, imbue'
- inherited coloratus (Latin), 'coloured'
- borrowed colorado (Spanish), 'colored'
Ancestors
- colorado (Spanish)
- colorado (Portuguese)
Descendants and derived words
- CO (English)
- CO (English)
- CO (English)
- Coloradan (English)
- Coloradan (English)
- Coloradoan (English)
- Coloradoan (English)
- Colorado beetle (English)
- Colorado blue spruce (English)
- Colorado City (English)
- Colorado County (English)
- Colorado Desert (English)
Sources
- Colorado (English) - Wiktionary
- colorado (Portuguese) - Wiktionary
- colorado (Spanish) - Wiktionary
- coloratus (Latin) - Wiktionary
- coloro (Latin) - Wiktionary
Updated October 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris