Kevin
January 31, 2022
Common Questions

Do you know what all of the meanings of POC are? This guide will assist you in using this acronym in your day-to-day life.

There are plenty of meanings for the acronym POC and plenty of ways to use this phrase in your daily conversations. Learn more below!

What Does POC Stand For?

Person of Color

According to Merriam-Webster, the term POC stands for person of color or people of color. This is an umbrella term used to refer to non-white people, often when discussing civil rights and racial injustice. In the United States, people of color face racism and discrimination. Therefore, fighting for the rights of POC such as Black people, African Americans, Latinx people, Asian, and Indigenous people is important.

People seek to find common ground as well as validate their separate experiences. Similar to the label POC is WOC, which stands for women of color. This slang is often used on social media such as Facebook and Twitter to refer to people with different ethnic backgrounds.

Proof of Concept

POC can also stand for proof of concept, also called a proof of principle. This prototype is often used in a business proposal or demonstration by project managers to show the different purposes of the minimum viable product and the market demand to potential investors.

Proof of concept process might include short films made by filmmakers, example deliverables, calculations that show the usability or ROI of the final product, and more.

What Else Can POC Stand For?

According to The Free Dictionary, the abbreviation POC has more than the definitions person of color or proof of concept. Take a look at the below list and see how many you know!

Potential Officers Course (UK)
Progressive Offset Control (Celeris)
Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic
Project Officer Coordinator (FEMA)
Product of Conception (genetics testing)
Preliminary Operational Capability
Point of Correction
Point of Care
Proceeds of Crime (Canadian legal term)
Proyectos de Obra Civil (Spanish)
Partial-Order Coding (phase encoding)
Permanent Orienteering Course
Platoon Operations Center
Ports of Call (computer game)
Push to Talk Over Cellular (cellular telephony)
Parent of Child
Piece of Cr*p (milder version of POS)
Purchase Order Change (EDI)
Pack of Chihuahuas (band)
Person of Conscience
Philippine Olympic Committee
Police Operations Center (various locations)
Personnel Operations Center
Plan of Correction
Player-Owned City (role-playing clan)
Point of Care (healthcare industry)
Pu`u `O`o Cone (Hawai’i)
Public Outreach Committee (various organizations)
Pissed Off Chick
Pentecostals of Cary (Cary, NC)
Polar Cod (FAO species name code )
Person On Call

Even More Meanings of POC

Of course, with such common letters, the meanings of POC don’t end there! Check out these lesser-used meanings of POC.

Piece Of Cake
Passage of Conflict
Point of Control (finance)
Portable Object Compiler
Point Of Contact
Pile Of Crap
Procurement Order Cycle
Plano Oficial de Contabilidade
Power over Coaxial
Potomac Officers Club (Washington, DC)
Payload Operations Center
Pulmonary Opacity Code
Privately Owned Conveyance
Position of Comfort
Point of Concept
Point of Control
Prosthetic Orthotic Center (various companies)
Paid Outside of Closing (real estate)
Professional Officer Course
Particulate Oxidation Catalyst (automotive emissions reduction)
Post Office Code
Person of Concern (UN)
Port of Convenience
Ptt over Cellular
Program Operator Communication
Passion of the Christ (movie)
Processor Outage Control (CCS #7 & ITU-T)
Pissed Off Customer
Proof of Citizenship
Psychological Operations Company
Pittsburgh Opera Center (Pittsburgh, PA)
Prisoner of Conscience
Project Overview Committee
Parameter Order Change
Playout Center
Preliminary Operational Concept
Pride of Cleveland
Metal Powder Cutting (welding)
Power Open Close
Power of Connecting
Paid on Call (firefighting)
Pastor on Call
Proto-Oncogene
Performance Objectives and Criteria
Public Operators Code
Particulate Organic Carbon
Purchase Order Confirmation
Percent of Original Charge
Point of Connection
Proof Of Concept (determine the feasibility of the idea)
Point of Clarification
Property of Canada
Proof of Claim (insurance industry)
Port O’Connor (Texas)
Port Of Call
Pirates of the Caribbean (movie)

Other Racial Equity Terminology

You might hear many different terms when discussing race and racial inequality. It might seem like there are many different terms to learn, but this list from Racial Equity Tools can be especially useful in educating yourself for future conversations. Take a look at this list and see how many you know!

Internalized Dominance
Settler Colonialism
Anti-Racist Ideas
Black Lives Matter
Racial Healing
Liberatory Consciousness
Structural Racialization
BIPOC
Accountability
Indigeneity
Racism
Cultural Appropriation
Racist Policies
Marginalization
Cultural Misappropriation
Decolonization
Microaggression
Xenophobia
Individual Racism
Targeted Universalism
Ally
Implicit Bias
Structural Racism
Racialization
Assimilationist
Tokenism
Multicultural Competency
White Fragility
Whiteness
Cultural Racism
White Supremacy Culture
Restorative Justice
Racist Ideas
White Privilege
Racial and Ethnic Identity
Racial Identity Development Theory
Institutional Racism
Anti-Racism
Critical Race Theory
Racial Capitalism
Bigotry
Discrimination
Systemic Racism
Racist
Intersectionality
Power
Collusion
Privilege
Anti-Racist
Movement Building
Racial Justice
Ethnicity
Centering Blackness
Inclusion
Racial Inequity

Conclusion

Overall, the term POC stands for either person of color or proof of concept. Clearly, there are tons of ways POC can be defined, so make sure you use context clues to understand how it’s being used in a sentence.

Sources:

Kevin Miller is a growth marketer with an extensive background in Search Engine Optimization, paid acquisition and email marketing. He is also an online editor and writer based out of Los Angeles, CA. He studied at Georgetown University, worked at Google and became infatuated with English Grammar and for years has been diving into the language, demystifying the do's and don'ts for all who share the same passion! He can be found online here.