Meaning
In British English, mainly of people, slightly ill or below one's usual form: feeling a bit off-colour, an off-colour performance. In American English the dominant sense, originally of jokes and humour, is improper, risqué or in questionable taste: an off-colour remark. The shared idea in both is deviation from the normal or proper standard, as of a tint. Informal; the British health sense is mild and everyday, while the American risqué sense carries disapproval. Regional use: General English; unwell sense chiefly British, risqué sense originally American.
Origin
A mid-19th-century commercial coinage turned idiom. Etymonline dates off-color to 1858 for gems 'defective or inferior because not of a natural or proper color', and Merriam-Webster's first known use is 1854; the figurative 'of questionable taste, risqué' sense followed in 1867 as an American development. The 'slightly unwell' sense, now the ordinary British use per Collins, applies the same idea of an altered complexion or a below-par showing, following the established off + noun pattern of off-key and off-balance. The spelling splits by variety: off-colour in British English, off-color in American.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- a bit off-colour
- feeling off-colour
- off-color
- off-colour joke
Usage Examples
- She skipped the morning meeting because she was feeling off-colour.
- The best man's speech drifted into off-colour territory and the room went quiet.
- His batting has looked distinctly off-colour since he came back from injury.