Colour origin of the word

Английский[править]

Морфологические и синтаксические свойства[править]

ед. ч.	мн. ч.
colour	colours

col—our

Существительное. ^{[Merriam-Webster]}

Произношение[править]

• МФА (Великобритания): [ˈkʌl.ə(ɹ)]

• МФА (США): [ˈkʌl.ɚ]

Семантические свойства[править]

Значение[править]

1. брит. то же, что color; цвет ◆ Отсутствует пример употребления (см. рекомендации).

Синонимы[править]

1. (амер.) color

Антонимы[править]

Гиперонимы[править]

Гипонимы[править]

Родственные слова[править]

Ближайшее родство

Этимология[править]

Происходит от лат. color «цвет» из стар. colos, изначально в знач. «покрытие» (восходит к праиндоевр. *kel- «покрывать»). Англ. colour (color) — с начала XIII века, заимств. через ст.-франц. colur. Использованы материалы Online Etymology Dictionary Дугласа Харпера. См. Список литературы.

Фразеологизмы и устойчивые сочетания[править]

Для улучшения этой статьи желательно: Добавить описание морфемного состава с помощью {{морфо}} Добавить пример словоупотребления для значения с помощью {{пример}} Добавить гиперонимы в секцию «Семантические свойства»

Color (American English) or colour (Commonwealth English) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though color is not an inherent property of matter, color perception is related to an object’s light absorption, reflection, emission spectra and interference. For most humans, color are perceived in the visible light spectrum with three types of cone cells (trichromacy). Other animals may have a different number of cone cell types or have eyes sensitive to different wavelength, such as bees that can distinguish ultraviolet, and thus has a different color sensitivity range. Animal perception of color originates from different light wavelength or spectral sensitivity in cone cell types, which is then processed by the brain.

Colors have perceived properties such as hue, colorfulness (saturation) and luminance. Colors can also be additively mixed (commonly used for actual light) or subtractively mixed (commonly used for materials). If the colors are mixed in the right proportions, because of metamerism, they may look the same as a single-wavelength light. For convenience, colors can be organized in a color space, which when being abstracted as a mathematical color model can assign each region of color with a corresponding set of numbers. As such, color spaces are an essential tool for color reproduction in print, photography, computer monitors and television. The most well-known color models are RGB, CMYK, YUV, HSL and HSV.

Because the perception of color is an important aspect of human life, different colors have been associated with emotions, activity, and nationality. Names of color regions in different cultures can have different, sometimes overlapping areas. In visual arts, color theory is used to govern the use of colors in an aesthetically pleasing and harmonious way. The theory of color includes the color complements; color balance; and classification of primary colors (traditionally red, yellow, blue), secondary colors (traditionally orange, green, purple) and tertiary colors. The study of colors in general is called color science.

Physical properties

Electromagnetic radiation is characterized by its wavelength (or frequency) and its intensity. When the wavelength is within the visible spectrum (the range of wavelengths humans can perceive, approximately from 390 nm to 700 nm), it is known as «visible light».

Most light sources emit light at many different wavelengths; a source’s spectrum is a distribution giving its intensity at each wavelength. Although the spectrum of light arriving at the eye from a given direction determines the color sensation in that direction, there are many more possible spectral combinations than color sensations. In fact, one may formally define a color as a class of spectra that give rise to the same color sensation, although such classes would vary widely among different species, and to a lesser extent among individuals within the same species. In each such class, the members are called metamers of the color in question. This effect can be visualized by comparing the light sources’ spectral power distributions and the resulting colors.

Spectral colors

The familiar colors of the rainbow in the spectrum—named using the Latin word for appearance or apparition by Isaac Newton in 1671—include all those colors that can be produced by visible light of a single wavelength only, the pure spectral or monochromatic colors. The table at right shows approximate frequencies (in terahertz) and wavelengths (in nanometers) for spectral colors in the visible range. Spectral colors have 100% purity, and are fully saturated. A complex mixture of spectral colors can be used to describe any color, which is the definition of a light power spectrum.

The color table should not be interpreted as a definitive list; the spectral colors form a continuous spectrum, and how it is divided into distinct colors linguistically is a matter of culture and historical contingency.^[1] Despite the ubiquitous ROYGBIV mnemonic used to remember the spectral colors in English, the inclusion or exclusion of colors in this table is contentious, with disagreement often focused on indigo and cyan.^[2] Even if the subset of color terms is agreed, their wavelength ranges and borders between them may not be.

The intensity of a spectral color, relative to the context in which it is viewed, may alter its perception considerably according to the Bezold–Brücke shift; for example, a low-intensity orange-yellow is brown, and a low-intensity yellow-green is olive green.

Color of objects

The color of an object depends on how it absorbs and scatters light. Most objects scatters light to some degree and do not reflect or transmit light specularly like glasses or mirrors. A transparent object allows almost all light to transmit or pass through, thus transparent objects are perceived as colorless. Conversely, an opaque object does not allow light to transmit through and instead absorbing or reflecting the light it receives. Like transparent objects, translucent objects allow light to transmit through, but translucent objects are seen colored because they scatter or absorb certain wavelengths of light via internal scatterance. The absorbed light is often dissipated as heat.^{[3]: 5–9, 12}

Color vision

Development of theories of color vision

Although Aristotle and other ancient scientists had already written on the nature of light and color vision, it was not until Newton that light was identified as the source of the color sensation. In 1810, Goethe published his comprehensive Theory of Colors in which he provided a rational description of color experience, which ‘tells us how it originates, not what it is’. (Schopenhauer)

In 1801 Thomas Young proposed his trichromatic theory, based on the observation that any color could be matched with a combination of three lights. This theory was later refined by James Clerk Maxwell and Hermann von Helmholtz. As Helmholtz puts it, «the principles of Newton’s law of mixture were experimentally confirmed by Maxwell in 1856. Young’s theory of color sensations, like so much else that this marvelous investigator achieved in advance of his time, remained unnoticed until Maxwell directed attention to it.»^[4]

At the same time as Helmholtz, Ewald Hering developed the opponent process theory of color, noting that color blindness and afterimages typically come in opponent pairs (red-green, blue-orange, yellow-violet, and black-white). Ultimately these two theories were synthesized in 1957 by Hurvich and Jameson, who showed that retinal processing corresponds to the trichromatic theory, while processing at the level of the lateral geniculate nucleus corresponds to the opponent theory.^[5]

In 1931, an international group of experts known as the Commission internationale de l’éclairage (CIE) developed a mathematical color model, which mapped out the space of observable colors and assigned a set of three numbers to each.

Color in the eye

The ability of the human eye to distinguish colors is based upon the varying sensitivity of different cells in the retina to light of different wavelengths. Humans are trichromatic—the retina contains three types of color receptor cells, or cones. One type, relatively distinct from the other two, is most responsive to light that is perceived as blue or blue-violet, with wavelengths around 450 nm; cones of this type are sometimes called short-wavelength cones or S cones (or misleadingly, blue cones). The other two types are closely related genetically and chemically: middle-wavelength cones, M cones, or green cones are most sensitive to light perceived as green, with wavelengths around 540 nm, while the long-wavelength cones, L cones, or red cones, are most sensitive to light that is perceived as greenish yellow, with wavelengths around 570 nm.

Light, no matter how complex its composition of wavelengths, is reduced to three color components by the eye. Each cone type adheres to the principle of univariance, which is that each cone’s output is determined by the amount of light that falls on it over all wavelengths. For each location in the visual field, the three types of cones yield three signals based on the extent to which each is stimulated. These amounts of stimulation are sometimes called tristimulus values.^[6]

The response curve as a function of wavelength varies for each type of cone. Because the curves overlap, some tristimulus values do not occur for any incoming light combination. For example, it is not possible to stimulate only the mid-wavelength (so-called «green») cones; the other cones will inevitably be stimulated to some degree at the same time. The set of all possible tristimulus values determines the human color space. It has been estimated that humans can distinguish roughly 10 million different colors.^[7]

The other type of light-sensitive cell in the eye, the rod, has a different response curve. In normal situations, when light is bright enough to strongly stimulate the cones, rods play virtually no role in vision at all.^[8] On the other hand, in dim light, the cones are understimulated leaving only the signal from the rods, resulting in a colorless response. (Furthermore, the rods are barely sensitive to light in the «red» range.) In certain conditions of intermediate illumination, the rod response and a weak cone response can together result in color discriminations not accounted for by cone responses alone. These effects, combined, are summarized also in the Kruithof curve, which describes the change of color perception and pleasingness of light as a function of temperature and intensity.

Color in the brain

While the mechanisms of color vision at the level of the retina are well-described in terms of tristimulus values, color processing after that point is organized differently. A dominant theory of color vision proposes that color information is transmitted out of the eye by three opponent processes, or opponent channels, each constructed from the raw output of the cones: a red–green channel, a blue–yellow channel, and a black–white «luminance» channel. This theory has been supported by neurobiology, and accounts for the structure of our subjective color experience. Specifically, it explains why humans cannot perceive a «reddish green» or «yellowish blue», and it predicts the color wheel: it is the collection of colors for which at least one of the two color channels measures a value at one of its extremes.

The exact nature of color perception beyond the processing already described, and indeed the status of color as a feature of the perceived world or rather as a feature of our perception of the world—a type of qualia—is a matter of complex and continuing philosophical dispute.^{[citation needed]}

Nonstandard color perception

Color vision deficiency

A color vision deficiency causes an individual to perceive a smaller gamut of colors than the standard observer with normal color vision. The effect can be mild, having lower «color resolution» (i.e. anomalous trichromacy), moderate, lacking an entire dimension or channel of color (e.g. dichromacy), or complete, lacking all color perception (i.e. monochromacy). Most forms of color blindness derive from one or more of the three classes of cone cells either being missing, having a shifted spectral sensitivity or having lower responsiveness to incoming light. In addition, cerebral achromatopsia is caused by neural anomalies in those parts of the brain where visual processing takes place.

Some colors that appear distinct to an individual with normal color vision will appear metameric to the color blind. The most common form of color blindness is congenital red–green color blindness, affecting ~8% of males. Individuals with the strongest form of this condition (dichromacy) will experience blue and purple, green and yellow, teal and gray as colors of confusion, i.e. metamers.^[9]

Tetrachromacy

Outside of humans, which are mostly trichromatic (having three types of cones), most mammals are dichromatic, possessing only two cones. However, outside of mammals, most vertebrate are tetrachromatic, having four types of cones, and includes most, birds, reptiles, amphibians and bony fish. An extra dimension of color vision means these vertebrates can see two distinct colors that a normal human would view as metamers. Some invertebrates, such as the mantis shrimp, have an even higher number of cones (12) that could lead to a richer color gamut than even imaginable by humans.

The existence of human tetrachromats is a contentious notion. As many as half of all human females have 4 distinct cone classes, which could enable tetrachromacy.^{[10]: p.256}
However, a distinction must be made between retinal (or weak) tetrachromats, which express four cone classes in the retina, and functional (or strong) tetrachromats, which are able to make the enhanced color discriminations expected of tetrachromats. In fact, there is only one peer-reviewed report of a functional tetrachromat.^[11] It is estimated that while the average person is able to see one million colors, someone with functional tetrachromacy could see a hundred million colors.^[12]

Synesthesia

In certain forms of synesthesia, perceiving letters and numbers (grapheme–color synesthesia) or hearing sounds (chromesthesia) will evoke a perception of color. Behavioral and functional neuroimaging experiments have demonstrated that these color experiences lead to changes in behavioral tasks and lead to increased activation of brain regions involved in color perception, thus demonstrating their reality, and similarity to real color percepts, albeit evoked through a non-standard route. Synesthesia can occur genetically, with 4% of the population having variants associated with the condition. Synesthesia has also been known to occur with brain damage, drugs, and sensory deprivation.^[13]

The philosopher Pythagoras experienced synesthesia and provided one of the first written accounts of the condition in approximately 550 BCE. He created mathematical equations for musical notes that could form part of a scale, such as an octave.^[14]

Afterimages

After exposure to strong light in their sensitivity range, photoreceptors of a given type become desensitized. For a few seconds after the light ceases, they will continue to signal less strongly than they otherwise would. Colors observed during that period will appear to lack the color component detected by the desensitized photoreceptors. This effect is responsible for the phenomenon of afterimages, in which the eye may continue to see a bright figure after looking away from it, but in a complementary color.
Afterimage effects have also been used by artists, including Vincent van Gogh.

Color constancy

When an artist uses a limited color palette, the human eye tends to compensate by seeing any gray or neutral color as the color which is missing from the color wheel. For example, in a limited palette consisting of red, yellow, black, and white, a mixture of yellow and black will appear as a variety of green, a mixture of red and black will appear as a variety of purple, and pure gray will appear bluish.^[15]

The trichromatic theory is strictly true when the visual system is in a fixed state of adaptation. In reality, the visual system is constantly adapting to changes in the environment and compares the various colors in a scene to reduce the effects of the illumination. If a scene is illuminated with one light, and then with another, as long as the difference between the light sources stays within a reasonable range, the colors in the scene appear relatively constant to us. This was studied by Edwin H. Land in the 1970s and led to his retinex theory of color constancy.

Both phenomena are readily explained and mathematically modeled with modern theories of chromatic adaptation and color appearance (e.g. CIECAM02, iCAM).^[16] There is no need to dismiss the trichromatic theory of vision, but rather it can be enhanced with an understanding of how the visual system adapts to changes in the viewing environment.

Reproduction

Color reproduction is the science of creating colors for the human eye that faithfully represent the desired color. It focuses on how to construct a spectrum of wavelengths that will best evoke a certain color in an observer. Most colors are not spectral colors, meaning they are mixtures of various wavelengths of light. However, these non-spectral colors are often described by their dominant wavelength, which identifies the single wavelength of light that produces a sensation most similar to the non-spectral color. Dominant wavelength is roughly akin to hue.

There are many color perceptions that by definition cannot be pure spectral colors due to desaturation or because they are purples (mixtures of red and violet light, from opposite ends of the spectrum). Some examples of necessarily non-spectral colors are the achromatic colors (black, gray, and white) and colors such as pink, tan, and magenta.

Two different light spectra that have the same effect on the three color receptors in the human eye will be perceived as the same color. They are metamers of that color. This is exemplified by the white light emitted by fluorescent lamps, which typically has a spectrum of a few narrow bands, while daylight has a continuous spectrum. The human eye cannot tell the difference between such light spectra just by looking into the light source, although the color rendering index of each light source may affect the color of objects illuminated by these metameric light sources.

Similarly, most human color perceptions can be generated by a mixture of three colors called primaries. This is used to reproduce color scenes in photography, printing, television, and other media. There are a number of methods or color spaces for specifying a color in terms of three particular primary colors. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages depending on the particular application.

No mixture of colors, however, can produce a response truly identical to that of a spectral color, although one can get close, especially for the longer wavelengths, where the CIE 1931 color space chromaticity diagram has a nearly straight edge. For example, mixing green light (530 nm) and blue light (460 nm) produces cyan light that is slightly desaturated, because response of the red color receptor would be greater to the green and blue light in the mixture than it would be to a pure cyan light at 485 nm that has the same intensity as the mixture of blue and green.

Because of this, and because the primaries in color printing systems generally are not pure themselves, the colors reproduced are never perfectly saturated spectral colors, and so spectral colors cannot be matched exactly. However, natural scenes rarely contain fully saturated colors, thus such scenes can usually be approximated well by these systems. The range of colors that can be reproduced with a given color reproduction system is called the gamut. The CIE chromaticity diagram can be used to describe the gamut.

Another problem with color reproduction systems is connected with the initial measurement of color, or colorimetry. The characteristics of the color sensors in measurement devices (e.g. cameras, scanners) are often very far from the characteristics of the receptors in the human eye.

A color reproduction system «tuned» to a human with normal color vision may give very inaccurate results for other observers, according to color vision deviations to the standard observer.

The different color response of different devices can be problematic if not properly managed. For color information stored and transferred in digital form, color management techniques, such as those based on ICC profiles, can help to avoid distortions of the reproduced colors. Color management does not circumvent the gamut limitations of particular output devices, but can assist in finding good mapping of input colors into the gamut that can be reproduced.

Additive coloring

Additive color is light created by mixing together light of two or more different colors. Red, green, and blue are the additive primary colors normally used in additive color systems such as projectors, televisions, and computer terminals.

Subtractive coloring

Subtractive coloring uses dyes, inks, pigments, or filters to absorb some wavelengths of light and not others. The color that a surface displays comes from the parts of the visible spectrum that are not absorbed and therefore remain visible. Without pigments or dye, fabric fibers, paint base and paper are usually made of particles that scatter white light (all colors) well in all directions. When a pigment or ink is added, wavelengths are absorbed or «subtracted» from white light, so light of another color reaches the eye.

If the light is not a pure white source (the case of nearly all forms of artificial lighting), the resulting spectrum will appear a slightly different color. Red paint, viewed under blue light, may appear black. Red paint is red because it scatters only the red components of the spectrum. If red paint is illuminated by blue light, it will be absorbed by the red paint, creating the appearance of a black object.

Structural color

Structural colors are colors caused by interference effects rather than by pigments. Color effects are produced when a material is scored with fine parallel lines, formed of one or more parallel thin layers, or otherwise composed of microstructures on the scale of the color’s wavelength. If the microstructures are spaced randomly, light of shorter wavelengths will be scattered preferentially to produce Tyndall effect colors: the blue of the sky (Rayleigh scattering, caused by structures much smaller than the wavelength of light, in this case, air molecules), the luster of opals, and the blue of human irises. If the microstructures are aligned in arrays, for example, the array of pits in a CD, they behave as a diffraction grating: the grating reflects different wavelengths in different directions due to interference phenomena, separating mixed «white» light into light of different wavelengths. If the structure is one or more thin layers then it will reflect some wavelengths and transmit others, depending on the layers’ thickness.

Structural color is studied in the field of thin-film optics. The most ordered or the most changeable structural colors are iridescent. Structural color is responsible for the blues and greens of the feathers of many birds (the blue jay, for example), as well as certain butterfly wings and beetle shells. Variations in the pattern’s spacing often give rise to an iridescent effect, as seen in peacock feathers, soap bubbles, films of oil, and mother of pearl, because the reflected color depends upon the viewing angle. Numerous scientists have carried out research in butterfly wings and beetle shells, including Isaac Newton and Robert Hooke. Since 1942, electron micrography has been used, advancing the development of products that exploit structural color, such as «photonic» cosmetics.^[17]

Cultural perspective

Colors, their meanings and associations can play a major role in works of art, including literature.^[18]

Associations

Individual colors have a variety of cultural associations such as national colors (in general described in individual color articles and color symbolism). The field of color psychology attempts to identify the effects of color on human emotion and activity. Chromotherapy is a form of alternative medicine attributed to various Eastern traditions. Colors have different associations in different countries and cultures.^[19]

Different colors have been demonstrated to have effects on cognition. For example, researchers at the University of Linz in Austria demonstrated that the color red significantly decreases cognitive functioning in men.^[20] The combination of the colors red and yellow together can induce hunger, which has been capitalized on by a number of chain restaurants.^[21]

Color plays a role in memory development too. A photograph that is in black and white is slightly less memorable than one in color.^[22] Studies also show that wearing bright colors makes you more memorable to people you meet.

Terminology

Colors vary in several different ways, including hue (shades of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet), saturation, brightness, and gloss. Some color words are derived from the name of an object of that color, such as «orange» or «salmon», while others are abstract, like «red».

In the 1969 study Basic Color Terms: Their Universality and Evolution, Brent Berlin and Paul Kay describe a pattern in naming «basic» colors (like «red» but not «red-orange» or «dark red» or «blood red», which are «shades» of red). All languages that have two «basic» color names distinguish dark/cool colors from bright/warm colors. The next colors to be distinguished are usually red and then yellow or green. All languages with six «basic» colors include black, white, red, green, blue, and yellow. The pattern holds up to a set of twelve: black, gray, white, pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, and azure (distinct from blue in Russian and Italian, but not English).

See also

• Chromophore
• Color analysis
• Color in Chinese culture
• Color mapping
• Complementary colors
• Impossible color
• International Color Consortium
• International Commission on Illumination
• Lists of colors (compact version)
• Neutral color
• Pearlescent coating including Metal effect pigments
• Pseudocolor
• Primary, secondary and tertiary colors

References

External links

• Color at the Encyclopædia Britannica
• Maund, Barry. «Color». In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
• «Color». Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Dating back centuries, the names of our everyday colors have origins in the earliest known languages. According to linguists:

There was a time when there were no color-names as such . . .  and that not very remote in many cases, when the present color-words were terms that could be used in describing quite different qualities [including] gay, lively, smart, dashy, loud, gaudy . . . dull, dead, dreary . . . tarnished, stained, spotted, dirty, smeared . . . faint, faded [and feeble].

As different societies developed names for colors, across the globe, isolated cultures went about naming the colors, but weirdly, they all generally did it in the same order. Called the hierarchy of color names, the order was generally (with a few exceptions): black, white, red, green, yellow, and blue with others like brown, purple and pink coming at various times afterward.

Recent research in this area has demonstrated that this hierarchy matches humans reaction to different frequencies in the visible spectrum; that is, the stronger our reaction to that color’s frequency, the earlier it was named in the culture; or as Vittorio Loreto et al. put it:

The color spectrum clearly exists at a physical level of wavelengths, humans tend to react most saliently to certain parts of this spectrum often selecting exemplars for them, and finally comes the process of linguistic color naming, which adheres to universal patterns resulting in a neat hierarchy…

So, like other cultures, English words for the colors generally followed that same pattern, with black and white coming first, and purple, orange and pink coming last.

The Parents of Modern English

Although a number of the languages discussed in this article are self-explanatory, these three benefit from a brief description:

Proto-Indo-European (PIE) – Known as the common ancestor of all of the Indo-European (Europe, India, Iran and Anatolia) languages, it was spoken up to, perhaps, the 3^rd or 4^th millennium BC.

Proto-Germanic – A child of the PIE, Proto-Germanic (2000 BC-500 BC) was an ancestor of the Saxon, English, German (duh), Norse, Norwegian, Dutch, Danish, Icelandic, Faroese, Swedish, Gothic and Vandalic languages.

Old English – This early form of English, also sometimes called Anglo-Saxon, was used in England and Scotland from about 400 AD-1100 AD.

In addition, many of the words from these and other early languages are only assumed to have existed. In the study of the origin of words (etymology) these “presumed words” are generally marked with an asterisk (*). For convenience, they are referred to as “written” although it is doubtful that they ever were.

Black

Black derives from words invariably meaning the color black, as well as dark, ink and “to burn.”

Originally meaning, burning, blazing, glowing and shining, in PIE it was *bhleg. This was changed to *blakkaz in Proto-Germanic, to blaken in Dutch and blaec, in Old English. This last word, blaec, also meant ink, as did blak (Old Saxon) and black (Swedish).

The color was called blach in Old High German and written blaec in Old English. One final meaning, dark (also blaec in Old English) derived from the Old Norse blakkr.

White

White began its life in PIE as *kwintos and meant simply white or bright. This had changed to *khwitz in Proto-Germanic, and later languages transformed it into hvitr (Old Norse), hwit (Old Saxon) and wit (Dutch). By the time Old English developed, the word was kwit.

Red

In PIE, red was *reudh and meant red and ruddy. In Proto-Germanic, red was *rauthaz, and in its derivative languages raudr (Old Norse), rod (Old Saxon) and rØd (Danish). In Old English, it was written read.

Green

Meaning grow in PIE, it was *ghre. Subsequent languages wrote it grene (Old Frisian), graenn (Old Norse) and grown (Dutch). In Old English, it was grene and meant the color green as well as young and immature.

Yellow

Thousands of years ago, yellow was considered to be closely related to green, and in PIE it was *ghel and meant both yellow and green. In Proto-Germanic, the word was *gelwaz. Subsequent incarnations of German had the word as gulr (Old Norse), gel (Middle High German) and gelo (Old High German). As late as Old English, yellow was written geolu and geolwe

Blue

Blue was also often confused with yellow back in the day. The PIE word was *bhle-was and meant “light-colored, blue, blond yellow” and had its root as bhel which meant to shine. In Proto-Germanic, the word was *blaewaz, and in Old English, it was blaw.

English also gets some of its words from French, and blue is one of them. In Old French (one of the vulgar Latin dialects whose height was between the 9^th and 13^th centuries AD) blue was written bleu and blew and meant a variety of things including the color blue.

Brown

Derived from the Old Germanic for either or both a dark color and a shining darkness (brunoz and bruna), brown is a recent addition to our language. In Old English it was brun or brune, and its earliest known writing was in about 1000 AD.

Purple

This word also skipped the PIE and seems to have sprung up in the 9^th century AD, in Old English as purpul. Burrowed from the Latin word purpura, purple originally meant alternately, “purple color, purple-dyed cloak, purple dye . . . a shellfish from which purple was made . . . [and] splendid attire generally.”

Orange

This color’s name derives from the Sanskrit word for the fruit naranga. (Yes, the color orange was named after the fruit, not the other way around). This transformed into the Arabic and Persian naranj, and by the time of Old French to pomme d’orenge. It was originally recorded in English as the name of the color in 1512.  Before then, the English speaking world referred to the orange color as geoluhread, which literally translates to “yellow-red.”

Pink

One of the most recent colors to gain a name, pink was first recorded as describing the “pale rose color” in 1733. In the 16^th century, pink was the common named to describe a plant whose petals had a variety of colors (Dianthus), and it originally may have come from a Dutch word of the same spelling that meant small.

If you liked this article, you might also enjoy our new popular podcast, The BrainFood Show (iTunes, Spotify, Google Play Music, Feed), as well as:

• Carrots Used to Be Purple Before the 17th Century
• The Color Pink Doesn’t Exist? So Why Can We See It?
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• Both Cats and Dogs can See Color, Contrary to Popular Belief
• Why Leaves Change Color in the Fall

Expand for Further References

Princeton’s WordNetRate this definition:2.3 / 3 votes

1. coloring material, colouring material, color, colournoun

   any material used for its color

   «she used a different color for the trim»

2. color, colour, people of color, people of colournoun

   a race with skin pigmentation different from the white race (especially Blacks)

3. color, colournoun

   (physics) the characteristic of quarks that determines their role in the strong interaction

   «each flavor of quarks comes in three colors»

4. color, colour, vividnessnoun

   interest and variety and intensity

   «the Puritan Period was lacking in color»; «the characters were delineated with exceptional vividness»

5. color, colour, coloration, colourationnoun

   the timbre of a musical sound

   «the recording fails to capture the true color of the original music»

6. color, colour, coloring, colouringnoun

   a visual attribute of things that results from the light they emit or transmit or reflect

   «a white color is made up of many different wavelengths of light»

7. semblance, gloss, color, colournoun

   an outward or token appearance or form that is deliberately misleading

   «he hoped his claims would have a semblance of authenticity»; «he tried to give his falsehood the gloss of moral sanction»; «the situation soon took on a different color»

8. color, colouradjective

   the appearance of objects (or light sources) described in terms of a person’s perception of their hue and lightness (or brightness) and saturation

9. color, colourverb

   having or capable of producing colors

   «color film»; «he rented a color television»; «marvelous color illustrations»

10. color, colourverb

    modify or bias

    «His political ideas color his lectures»

11. color, colour, emblazonverb

    decorate with colors

    «color the walls with paint in warm tones»

12. color, colour, glossverb

    give a deceptive explanation or excuse for

    «color a lie»

13. tinge, color, colour, distortverb

    affect as in thought or feeling

    «My personal feelings color my judgment in this case»; «The sadness tinged his life»

14. color, colorize, colorise, colourise, colourize, colour, color in, colour inverb

    add color to

    «The child colored the drawings»; «Fall colored the trees»; «colorize black and white film»

15. discolor, discolour, colour, colorverb

    change color, often in an undesired manner

    «The shirts discolored»

WiktionaryRate this definition:4.0 / 4 votes

1. colournoun

   The spectral composition of visible light

   Humans and birds can perceive colour

2. colournoun

   A particular set of visible spectral compositions, perceived or named as a class

   Most languages have names for the colours black, white, red and green.

3. colournoun

   Hue as opposed to achromatic colours (black, white and greys).

   He referred to the white flag as one «drained of all colour».

4. colournoun

   Human skin tone, especially as an indicator of race or ethnicity.

   Colour has been a sensitive issue in many societies.

5. colournoun

   Interest, especially in a selective area

   a bit of local colour

6. colournoun

   Any of the standard dark tinctures used in a coat of arms, including azure, gules, sable, and vert. Contrast with metal.

7. colournoun

   A standard or banner.

   The loss of their colours destroyed the regiment’s morale.

8. colournoun

   The system of colour television.

   This film is broadcast in colour.

9. colournoun

   An award for sporting achievement, particularly within a school or university.

   He was awarded colours for his football.

10. colourverb

    To give something colour.

    We could colour the walls red.

11. colourverb

    To apply colours to the areas within the boundaries of a line drawing using coloured markers or crayons.

    My son loves to colour.

12. colourverb

    Of a face: To become red through increased blood flow, implying due to strong emotion.

    Her face coloured as she realised her mistake.

13. colourverb

    To affect without completely changing.

    That interpretation certainly colours my perception of the book.

14. colourverb

    To attribute a quality to.

    Colour me confused.

15. colournoun

    A property of quarks, with three values called red, green, and blue, which they can exchange by passing gluons.

16. colournoun

    The relative lightness or darkness of a mass of written or printed text on a page.

17. colournoun

    Any of the coloured balls excluding the reds.

18. Etymology: From color, via colour (Early Anglo-Norman culur). The US spelling, which excludes the u, was chosen to conform to the word’s Latin origin, and to make all derivatives consistent (colorimeter, colorize, colorless, etc; see below). Elsewhere in the English-speaking world, the u has been retained.

Samuel Johnson’s DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. COLOURnoun

   Etymology: color, Latin.

   1. The appearance of bodies to the eye only; hue; die.

   It is a vulgar idea of the colours of solid bodies, when we perceive them to be a red, or blue, or green tincture of the surface; but a philosophical idea, when we consider the various colours to be different sensations, excited in us by the refracted rays of light, reflected on our eyes in a different manner, according to the different size, or shape, or situation of the particles of which the surfaces of those bodies are composed.
   Isaac Watts, Logick.

   Her hair shall be of what colour it please God.
   William Shakespeare.

   For though our eyes can nought but colours see,
   Yet colours give them not their pow’r of sight.
   Davies.

   The lights of colours are more refrangible one than another in this order; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, deep violet.
   Isaac Newton, Opt. Exp. 7.

   2. The freshness; or appearance of blood in the face.

   My cheeks no longer did their colour boast.
   Dryden.

   A sudden horror seiz’d his giddy head,
   And his ears trickled, and his colour fled.
   Dryden.

   3. The tint of the painter.

   When each bold figure just begins to live,
   The treach’rous colours the fair art betray,
   And all the bright creation fades away.
   Alexander Pope, Ess. Crit.

   4. The representation of any thing superficially examined.

   Whose wisdom is only of this world, to put false colours upon things, to call good evil, and evil good, against the conviction of their own consciences.
   Jonathan Swift.

   5. Concealment; palliation; excuse; superficial cover.

   It is no matter if I do halt; I have the wars for my colour, and my pension shall seem the more reasonable.
   William Shakespeare, Hen. IV.

   Their sin admitted no colour or excuse.
   Charles I .

   6. Appearance; pretence; false shew.

   Under the colour of commending him,
   I have access my own love to prefer.
   William Shakespeare.

   Merchants came to Rhodes with a great ship laded with corn, under the colour of the sale whereof they noted all that was done in the city.
   Richard Knolles, History of the Turks.

   7. Kind; species; character.

   Boys and women are, for the most part, cattle of this colour.
   William Shakespeare, As you like it.

   8. In the plural, a standard; an ensign of war: they say the colours of the foot, and standard of horse.

   He at Venice gave
   His body to that pleasant country’s earth,
   And his pure soul unto his captain Christ,
   Under whose colours he had fought so long.
   William Shakespeare, Rich. II.

   Against all checks, rebukes, and manners,
   I must advance the colours of my love,
   And not retire.
   William Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor.

   The banks on both sides were filled with companies, passing all along the river under their colours, with trumpets sounding.
   Richard Knolles, History of the Turks.

   An author compares a ragged coin to a tattered colours.
   Addis.

2. To Colourverb

   Etymology: coloro, Latin.

   1. To mark with some hue, or die.

   The rays, to speak properly, are not coloured: in them there is nothing else than a certain power and disposition to stir up a sensation of this or that colour.
   Isaac Newton, Opt.

   2. To palliate; to excuse; to dress in specious colours, or fain appearances.

   I told him, that I would not favour or colour in any sort his former folly.
   Walter Raleigh, Essays.

   He colours the falshood of Æneas by an express command from Jupiter to forsake the queen.
   John Dryden, Æn. Dedic.

   3. To make plausible.

   We have scarce heard of an insurrection that was not coloured with grievances of the highest kind, or countenanced by one or more branches of the legislature.
   Joseph Addison, Freeholder.

   4. To Colour a stranger’s goods,is when a freeman allows a foreigner to enter goods at the customhouse in his name; so that the foreigner pays but single duty, when he ought to pay double. Phillips.

3. To Colourverb

   To blush. A low word, only used in conversation.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Colour

   Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associated with objects or materials based on their physical properties such as light absorption, reflection, or emission spectra. By defining a color space, colors can be identified numerically by their coordinates.
   Because perception of color stems from the varying spectral sensitivity of different types of cone cells in the retina to different parts of the spectrum, colors may be defined and quantified by the degree to which they stimulate these cells. These physical or physiological quantifications of color, however, do not fully explain the psychophysical perception of color appearance.
   The science of color is sometimes called chromatics, colorimetry, or simply color science. It includes the perception of color by the human eye and brain, the origin of color in materials, color theory in art, and the physics of electromagnetic radiation in the visible range (that is, what is commonly referred to simply as light).

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Colournoun

   see Color

FreebaseRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Colour

   A colour is a name for certain kinds of flags.
   ⁕On land, it usually refers to regimental colours, but the term is also used outside military situations — for example, Boys Brigade as well as the Scout and Girl Guide flags are known as colours.
   ⁕At sea, the term «flying the colours» refers to a warship sailing on the high seas and flying its national ensign, thereby making its presence known to other naval powers.

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Colour

   kul′ur, n. a property of light which causes bodies to have different appearances to the eye: the hue or appearance which bodies present to the eye: appearance of blood in the face: appearance: pretext: tint: paint: false show: kind: (pl.) a flag, ensign, or standard: paints.—v.t. to put colour on: to stain: to paint: to set in a fair light: to exaggerate: to misrepresent.—v.i. to show colour: to blush.—adjs. Colorif′ic, containing or producing colours; Col′ourable, having a fair appearance: designed to conceal.—adv. Col′ourably.—n. Colourā′tion.—adj. Col′our-blind, unable to distinguish between colours.—n. Col′our-blind′ness.—adjs. Col′oured, having colour: (Spens.) having a specious appearance, deceitful: of the complexion, other than white.—ns. Col′ouring, any substance used to give colour: manner of applying colours: specious appearance; Col′ourist, one who colours or paints: one who excels in colouring.—adj. Col′ourless, without colour: transparent: neutral.—ns. Col′ourman, one who prepares and sells colours; Col′our-ser′geant, the sergeant who guards the colours of a regiment.—adj. Col′oury, having much colour.—Colour a pipe, to cause a tobacco-pipe, esp. a meerschaum, to take on a brown or black colour, by smoking.—A person of colour, a person of negro blood.—Change colour, to turn pale: to blush; Come off with flying colours, to do something with great éclat; Come out in one’s true colours, to appear in one’s real character; Desert one’s colours, to abandon one’s post or duty; Fast colour, a colour which does not fade when washed; Fight under false colours, to put forward a false pretence as a cover for one’s actions; Give colour, to give plausibility: Hang out false colours, to put up another’s flag, to pretend to belong to another party than one really does; High colour, pronounced redness of complexion; Lose colour, to lose one’s good looks; Nail one’s colours to the mast, to commit one’s self to some party or plan of action; Off colour, faded: past one’s best; Paint in bright colours, to embellish: to exaggerate; Primary colours, the three colours, red, green, and violet, from which the others, called Secondary colours, can be obtained; Show one’s colours, to show what are one’s inclinations, opinions, or character; Stick to one’s colours, to adhere to one’s party or opinions; Under colour of, under the pretext of; Without colour, without disguise: colourless: without individuality. [Fr.,—L. color; akin to celāre, to cover, to conceal.]

Editors ContributionRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. colour

   A visual attribute of a person, people, plant, nature, or thing that results from the light emitted, transmitted or reflected.

   Colour is beautiful and looks amazing when a colour is painted with another.

   Submitted by MaryC on April 14, 2020  

2. ---

   colour

   Is the visual perceptual quality seen through the eyes of a human or animal derived from the spectrum of light visible in and through the eyes.

   Colours are vital for our perception of life, they bring so much joy.

   Submitted by MaryC on April 14, 2020  

Suggested ResourcesRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. colour

   Song lyrics by colour — Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by colour on the Lyrics.com website.

2. colour

   Color vs. Colour — In this Grammar.com article you will learn the differences between the words Color and Colour.

3. Colour

   Color vs Colour — In this Grammar.com article you will learn the differences between the words Color and Colour.

Matched Categories

1. • Affect
   • Appearance
   • Change
   • Excuse
   • High-energy Physics
   • Interest
   • Kind
   • Timbre
   • Visual Property

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word ‘colour’ in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #932

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word ‘colour’ in Written Corpus Frequency: #841

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word ‘colour’ in Nouns Frequency: #255

4. Verbs Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word ‘colour’ in Verbs Frequency: #999

How to pronounce colour?

How to say colour in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of colour in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of colour in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

Examples of colour in a Sentence

1. David Bennett:

   In over 40 years, I cannot recall ever having seen another Burmese ruby of this exceptional size possessing such outstanding colour.

2. The FA:

   A comment posted on the Manchester United striker’s Instagram page was insulting, abusive, improper and brought the game into disrepute contrary to FA Rule E3.1, the post also constitutes an ‘aggravated breach’, which is defined in FA Rule E3.2, as it included reference, whether express or implied, to colour and/or race and/or ethnic origin.

3. Idris Elba:

   I’m not here to talk about black people; I’m here to talk about diversity. Diversity in the modern world is more than just skin colour — it’s gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, social background, and — most important of all, as far as I’m concerned -– diversity of thought.

4. The Minority Affairs Minister Naqvi:

   Covid-19 does not see race, religion, colour, caste, creed, language or border before striking, our response and conduct thereafter should attach primacy to unity and brotherhood. We are in this together.

5. Oscar Wilde:

   One should absorb the colour of life, but one should never remember its details. Details are always vulgar.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

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