Cor

Cor is a term with several meanings across languages and disciplines. In Latin, cor means heart, a root term that appears in scholarly or historical contexts and has influenced later Romance-language vocabulary related to the heart or emotions.

In Portuguese and Galician, cor means color. It describes hue or shade, as in phrases like a cor azul (the blue color). This usage comes from the Latin color.

In Dutch, Cor is a common male given name, often a shortened form of Cornelis or Cornelius, and used independently as a first name in historical and contemporary contexts.

In French, cor denotes a horn, particularly brass instruments in the orchestra. The word appears in instrument names such as cor d’harmonie (French horn) and in related musical terminology.

Usage notes: when lowercase, cor's meaning depends on language context (heart in Latin, color in Portuguese/Galician, etc.). As a capitalized acronym, COR can refer to various organizations, codes, or terms in different fields, with meaning dictated by surrounding context.

Etymology: cor in Latin and its descendants in Romance languages reflect the heart-related sense in historical texts, while the color sense in Portuguese/Galician derives from Latin color. The French horn sense is a distinct semantic path using cor for horn. See also color, heart, and horn for related terms.