What does bicolour mean?
Bicolour describes something marked by exactly two colours, whether those colours are sharply contrasted or blend in an ordered pattern. The word is the standard British spelling — American English writes it as "bicolor" — and it appears most often in technical and descriptive contexts: botanists speak of bicolour petals, cat fanciers of bicolour coats, and vexillologists reserve the term for flags composed of two horizontal or vertical bands. A bicolour design is prized for its clarity and visual impact; reducing a composition to two colours creates instant contrast and legibility, which is precisely why so many national flags adopt the bicolour format. The word carries no strong connotation beyond its descriptive precision, making it a useful term whenever a plain phrase like "red and white" would be clumsy. Derived from Latin roots meaning "two" and "colour," it entered English in the seventeenth century and remains a staple of scientific and artistic vocabulary today.
adjectiveHaving or marked with two colours; divided into or composed of two distinct colours, especially in a regular or contrasting arrangement.
- (of an object, surface, or animal) Having two colours or two contrasting colour patterns
- (of a flag) Divided into or consisting of two horizontal or vertical colour bands
"The flag's bicolour design of red and white bands made it instantly recognisable."
"The garden was planted with bicolour tulips that opened cream and flushed to deep pink."
"Many national flags are simple bicolours of two bold horizontal stripes."
That black-and-white cat on your sofa is officially a bicolour — the very word flags use when they want to look strikingly simple.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of bicolour
The word "bicolour" derives from Latin: "bi-", meaning "two" (as in "bicycle" and "bilingual"), combined with "color," meaning "colour," which also gives English words like "coloured" through Old French. It entered English in the early modern period, with attested use from the seventeenth century onward, initially in learned and descriptive contexts. Its American counterpart "bicolor" follows the same formation with unaltered Latin spelling, reflecting the broader divergence between British and American orthographic conventions for Latinate -our/-or words.
How bicolour is actually used
"Bicolour" is chiefly the British spelling; American English normally uses "bicolor." It is most at home in formal and technical registers — botany, zoology, heraldry, vexillology, and design — rather than everyday conversation.
Easily confused with bicolour
"Bicolor" is the standard American spelling of the same word, while "bicolour" is the British spelling; they are not different words.