Word.ws English Dictionary

once you go black, you never go back

once you go black, you never go back proverb: once someone has had sexual intercourse with a black person they will not want to return to having sexual intercourse with nonblack people.

Proverb

once you go black, you never go back

  1. (informal) Once someone has had sexual intercourse with a black person they will not want to return to having sexual intercourse with nonblack people.
    • "You really think she likes me?" I asked.
      "What do you think? You know what they say! Once you go black, you never go back!" Zac said rhythmically.2005, M. W. Moore, For What I Hate I Do, page 61
    • Thus our young man of words turns to an ugly American joke told most often by his black compatriots as he searches for the title of his study. “Once you go black, you never go back.” Is it true?2007, Robert Reid-Pharr, Once You Go Black, page 10

Words formed from once you go black, you never go back

Questions about once you go black, you never go back

What does once you go black, you never go back mean?
Once you go black, you never go back means once someone has had sexual intercourse with a black person they will not want to return to having sexual intercourse with nonblack people.
What part of speech is once you go black, you never go back?
Once you go black, you never go back is a proverb.

Words near once you go black, you never go back in the dictionary

  1. once over
  2. once overs
  3. once removed
  4. once upon a time
  5. once you go black
  6. once you go black, you never go back
  7. once you go Persian, there's no other version
  8. once-in-a-generation
  9. once-in-a-lifetime
  10. once-off
  11. once-offs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: once you go black, you never go back (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-once you go black, you never go back.wav.

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