Nigrescent

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /nɪˈɡɹɛsənt/

Definitions

1. Tending to become dark or blackish in color
2. Having the quality of gradually turning darker or approaching a black hue
3. Exhibiting a process of darkening or becoming more blackened in appearance

Etymology: "Nigrescent" comes from Latin "nigrescens," the present participle of "nigrescere," meaning "to grow black." That verb is built from "niger," the Latin word for black, plus an inchoative suffix that signals a process of becoming. So the word was always about change in progress: something not yet black, but moving toward it. The Latin root "niger" is also the source of "negro" in Spanish and Portuguese, where it originally just meant "black" in color, before the word came to be used as an ethnic label in English. The English word "nigrescent" carries none of that later history; it stays with the literal sense of darkening.