[ 'ni:grəʊ ]
■ noun ( plural ~es ) a member of a dark-skinned group of peoples originally native to Africa south of the Sahara.
Origin
via Sp. and Port. from L. niger , nigr- 'black'.
Usage
Since the 1960s, when the term black was favoured as the term to express racial pride, ~ (together with related words such as Negress ) has dropped out of favour. It is now regarded as old-fashioned or even offensive in both British and US English.