Usage Note: As a racial label, colored can simply mean nonwhite, but in the United States it has generally been restricted to persons of African descent. Though once a preferred term among black Americans, it lost favor as the 20th century progressed, and its use today is usually taken to be offensive. · In South Africa, where it is spelled Coloured, it has generally been used to refer to persons of mixed racial descent as opposed to those of unmixed black African, Asian, or European origin. Its use as an official ethnic label ended when apartheid was dismantled in 1991. See Usage Note at person of color.