Uncoloured

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. The state in which an object lacks any discernible color indicates a purity or simplicity of its appearance
2. An aesthetic condition marked by the complete absence of pigmentation highlights a clear, unembellished look
3. The condition in which an item exhibits no hue or tint conveys a sense of transparency or neutrality in its presentation

Etymology: "Uncoloured" is simply "un-" attached to "coloured," so its story is really the story of "colour" with a negating prefix added. The root traces back to the Proto-Indo-European "*ḱel-", and the Latin "color" that came from it gave Old French "color," which passed into Anglo-Norman and then Middle English as "colour." English took the spelling "colored" and the suffix that marks it as a past-form adjective, and the prefix "un-" was then placed in front, a combination of Old English origin. The "un-" prefix is much older than the word it sits on. It descends from Proto-Germanic and Old English, where it expressed negation, so "uncoloured" means, literally, "not coloured." The Latin "color" itself carried a sense of surface appearance or hue that English kept through its long journey.

Synonyms: colorless, neutral, plain, unpainted, bare

Antonyms: colored, vivid, bright, hued, painted