What does colourise mean?
Colourise means to add colour to something that was originally without it, most commonly referring to the process of converting black-and-white photographs or films into colour. The term is the British English spelling; American English typically writes it as colorize. Colourisation can be done painstakingly by hand, as artists have done since the nineteenth century by painting tints onto photographic prints, or digitally using modern software that assigns plausible colours to each element of an image. In recent years, artificial intelligence has dramatically accelerated the process, allowing vast archives of monochrome footage to be colourised at scale. The word is neutral in tone but sits within an ongoing cultural debate: some viewers find colourised images vivid and immediate, while purists argue that altering historical records risks distorting how past eras actually looked. Whether applied to family snapshots or landmark documentaries, to colourise is to bridge the visual gap between the monochrome past and the polychrome present.
verbTo add colour to something, especially to convert a black-and-white photograph or film into colour.
- To add colour to a black-and-white photograph, film, or other image, whether digitally or by hand.
"The studio spent two years painstakingly colourising the archive footage from the war."
"A team of archivists colourised hundreds of Victorian photographs for the museum's new exhibition."
"Modern software can colourise a century-old newsreel in minutes rather than months."
The same word can be spelled colourise or colorize depending on which side of the Atlantic you're on — but the magic of turning grey history into living colour is universal.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of colourise
Colourise combines 'colour' — derived from Latin 'color', meaning hue or complexion — with the verb-forming suffix '-ise'. The Latin root passed into Old French as 'colour' before entering Middle English. The suffix '-ise' reflects French influence on English verb formation, giving words like 'modernise' and 'criticise'. Its American counterpart, colorize, follows the same pattern with the '-ize' spelling preferred in US English.
How colourise is actually used
Colourise is the standard British spelling; American usage favours colorize. Both are accepted in professional contexts, though archives and broadcasters tend to follow their regional convention. The word carries no strong connotation itself, but colourisation of historic imagery sometimes provokes debate about authenticity.
Easily confused with colourise
Colourise and colorize are the same word — colourise uses the British spelling with 'our', while colorize uses the American spelling with 'or'.