colorism

noun

col·​or·​ism ˈkə-lə-ˌri-zəm 

-lər-ˌi-zəm

variants or British colourism

: prejudice or discrimination especially within a racial or ethnic group favoring people with lighter skin over those with darker skin

Under this system of colorism—the system which prevailed in my childhood in Jamaica, and which has carried over to the present—rarely will dark and light people co-mingle. Rarely will they achieve between themselves an intimacy informed with identity.

—Michelle Cliff

What writer Alice Walker defined as colorism, the preferential or prejudicial treatment of same-race people based on skin color, continues to this day. And as she once wrote, unless we exorcise it "we cannot as a people progress. For colorism, like colonialism, sexism and racism, impedes us."

—Itabari Njeri

Examples of colorism in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Classism is real, colorism is real, homophobia is real. —Carmen Rios, Flow Space, 5 Sep. 2025

Part of the reason is that her writing, which focused on colorism, the lives of the Black middle class, and the quiet struggles of Black women navigating a racist, classist society, wasn’t always seen as radical enough. —Glory Edim august 27, Literary Hub, 27 Aug. 2025

But Peggy's past—from the loss of her son to her former flame, the married Globe editor Thomas Fortune—and William's mother, whose colorism marred her impression of Peggy, jeopardized their chances of a happily ever after. —Sam Reed, Glamour, 11 Aug. 2025

The criticism may have looked like commentary on her performance, but the undercurrent of colorism was loud and clear. —Essence, 11 Aug. 2025

Word History

Etymology

color entry 1 + -ism, after racism

First Known Use

1964, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for colorism

• autism
• fascism
• racism
• sikhism
• statism
• sufism
• thomism
• tourism
• tropism
• abolitionism
• aldosteronism
• americanism