PINK In 1856 18-year old English PUCE HOT PINK AMARANTH chemist William Perkin Puce means flea in French. The colour of First mentioned in Vogue in 1958, an An imaginary flower that never fades. accidentally discovered the colour a blood-engorged flea. intense, vivid pink. Colour of foliage of Amarantus plants. mauve, the first synthetic dye. The colour of flowers from plants of C:8 M:56 Y:22.5 K:0 C:0 M:73 Y:0 K:0 C:0 M:94 Y:59 K:0 Until Perkin, dyes and artists’ the Dianthus genus. The word means jagged as in pinking shears. In Dutch colours were based on natural the word pinck means small. pigments – minerals, plants, squid C:0 M:37.5 Y:0 K:0 OLD ROSE SHOCKING PINK RASPBERRY ink, even crushed insects. Dark red cultivated rose. From the bright pink packaging of the Colour of fruit from the genus Rubus. After Perkin, words for colour Colourful C:15 M:67 Y:39.5 K:0.5 perfume Shocking designed by Leonor Prince song Raspberry Beret was a hit. names got a little bit weird. Fini for the Surrealist fashion designer C:12 M:100 Y:66 K:10 BABY PINK Elsa Schiaparelli. Magenta was named after a Very pale pink. The colour used for C:0 M:94 Y:24 K:1 famous battle. dressing baby girls. CORDOVAN The traditional words for colours C:0 M:22 Y:0 K:0 The colour of cordovan leather. Named CERISE tell their history. They are worth after Cordoba, Spain, where the leather Colour of the cherry fruit. Cerise means understanding and preserving. was first produced by Visigoths in the MAGENTA cherry in French. Colours are grouped according to seventh century. When the synthetic dye was discovered C:6 M:79 Y:20 K:0 ROSE C:43 M:82 Y:42 K:0 in 1859, it was first named fuchsia 11 base colour names. WORDS Plants of the Rosa genus with fragrant after botanist Leonhard Fuchs. It was CMYK values are provided as a flowers often pink in colour. People who renamed after the Battle of Magenta, a guide only. Colour is subjective. view the world through rose-colour town in Italy. The battle was part of the glasses are overly optimistic. Second Italian War of Independence. CHERRY BLOSSOM CARNATION The M in CMYK. Colour of the cherry flower. Cherry IMAGE: “Indian pigments” by Dan Brady. by Anne Jones C:0 M:50 Y:0 K:0 The flower. Carnation means fleshy. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons. C:0 M:100 Y:0 K:0 blossom is celebrated in Japan. C:0 M:45 Y:0 K:0 C:0 M:36 Y:10 K:0 RED BLUE FIRE ENGINE RED TOMATO CARMINE SKY BLUE PERIWINKLE The colour of fire engines. Probably The colour of tomatoes. From the Pigment from cochineal, dried Coccus Sky is from Old Norse meaning cloud. A blue- gemstone. The word is In Italian, the flower of death as those chosen for visibility. Bright yellow and Mexican word tomatl. cacti insects on Mexican cactus. C:55.5 M:0 Y:6 K:0 from Latin meaning sea water. awaiting execution wore periwinkle. From Sanskrit rudhira meaning blood. green are actually more visible. C:0 M:80 Y:70 K:0 C:20.5 M:100 Y:100 K:14 The Middle English word blew meant C:81 M:0 Y:25 K:0 C:20 M:20 Y:0 K:0 One of the 7 colours of the rainbow. C:0 M:100 Y:100 K:0 yellowish-grey. Said to be the most C:0 M:96 Y:90 K:0 popular colour, blue is also the colour of sadness. One of the 7 colours of the AZURE rainbow. TERRACOTTA BURGUNDY The clear blue of the sky on a clear day. ULTRAMARINE ROYAL BLUE The colour of red wine from the C:88 M:76 Y:0 K:0 Colour of building materials made by The word is derived from the semi- Ultramarine means beyond the sea. The The rich blue colour of a dress made for Burgundy region of France. RUBY A bright red. Persian for rich cloth. firing clay. Latin meaning baked earth. precious stone lapis lazuli. pigment was made from lapis lazuli. English Queen Charlotte (1744-1818). C:25 M:100 Y:97 K:25 Precious stone. Latin for red. C:0 M:90 Y:90 K:0 C:0 M:69 Y:64 K:5 C:84.5 M:46.5 Y:0 K:0 C:100 M:90 Y:6 K:6.5 C:81 M:60.5 Y:0 K:0 C:0 M:81 Y:73 K:22 From Greek kyanos meaning intense blue. Cyan is C in CMYK. One of the CINNABAR CHILLI MAROON CERULEAN NAVY BLUE The word is French for chestnut. The four colours used to produce full colour CARDINAL Red crystalline mineral. The word comes Colour of chilli fruit coincidentally used From Latin meaning dark blue probably A type of duck with green-blue feathers The colour of British Navy uniforms. official colour of Queensland. printing. Colour of a cardinal’s cassock. from the Persian word zinjifrah. in the Chilean flag. From the Nahuatl derived from the word for heaven. on the wing. Navy means ship. language. C:25 M:100 Y:100 K:26 C:100 M:0 Y:0 K:0 C:25 M:100 Y:79 K:20 C:0 M:74 Y:88 K:9 C:100 M:38 Y:20 K:1 C:100 M:26 Y:33 K:6.5 C:100 M:98 Y:12.5 K:15 C:5 M:91 Y:97 K:1

ELECTRIC BLUE CRIMSON VERMILION SOLFERINO COBALT BLUE Red crystalline mineral used to make TITIAN Synthetic dye invented in 1859 and Colour of a spark of electricity. CORNFLOWER BLUE Pigment from scale insect A precious stone found in Turkey, The colour of cornflower Centaurea Cobalt means goblin of the mines. From sealing wax. Also called China Red, the After the Venetian painter, Titian, who named after a battle in Solferino, Italy. C:75 M:0 Y:5 K:0 vermilio. From Sanskrit meaning turquoise means Turkish in French. cyanus, a perennial garden plant. the Herz mines in Germany. traditional red in Chinese art. painted people with red hair. C:31 M:100 Y:47.5 K:42 produced by a worm. C:95 M:0 Y:22 K:0 C:65 M:35 Y:0 K:0 C:100 M:79.5 Y:0.5 K:0.5 C:0 M:90 Y:70 K:0 C:0 M:88 Y:83 K:0 C:25 M:92 Y:100 K:20 PURPLE GREEN MAUVE AMETHYST PLUM CELADON AVOCADO Derived from the French word for Amethyst means not intoxicated. The colour of plums, Prunus domestica, Type of green pottery from China. The colour of liqueur made by monks at From Spanish meaning advocate. mallow flower, mauve was the first The purple quartz crystal was said to one of the first fruits domesticated by Possibly named after a fictional the monastery of La Grande-Chartreuse. C:40 M:0 Y:100 K:30 The Phoenicians produced red-purple synthetic dye produced in 1856 prevent drunkenness. humans. From Old English growen meaning to character created by French novelist C:23 M:0 Y:68 K:0 dye from the shellfish porphyra. This by William Perkin. The colour was C:35 M:70 Y:0 K:0 C:30 M: 100 Y:0 K: 35 grow. Many languages have only one Honoré d’Urfé (1568-1625). word morphed into the word purple. popularised by Queen Victoria. word for both blue and green. One of C:41 M:0 Y:42 K:0 Colour of royalty. C:17 M:32 Y:0 K:0 the 7 colours of the rainbow. C:39 M:81 Y:0 K:0 C:100 M:18.5 Y:100 K:11 LIME The colour of the unripe fruit of the olive FUCHSIA TYRIAN PURPLE The colour of limes. tree Olea europaea. Colour of the fuchsia flower named after The rich red purple produced by the JADE C:60 M:0 Y:100 K:0 C:51 M:36 Y:100 K:12.5 HELIOTROPE 16th century German botanist Leonhard Phoenicians from the shellfish Murex A green semi-precious stone, often LAVENDER Meaning turns to the sun, the heliotrope Fuchs. Fuchsia was one of the early brandaris. The process was very smelly TEA GREEN carved. The word is from Spanish The colour of the lavender flower is a purple flower which follows the sun. synthetic dyes. but the resulting dye was enormously The colour of brewed green tea Camillia meaning colic or pain in the side. valuable. Tyre was a Phoenician city. Lavandula vera. The word lavender is C:50 M:65 Y:0 K:0 C:22 M:77 Y:0 K:0 sinensis. Tea was stolen from China by C:60 M:0 Y:70 K:0 ASPARAGUS BOTTLE GREEN C:47 M:88 Y:20 K:36 said to be derived from the Latin word botanist Robert Fortune. The colour of the vegetable once known Dark green bottle glass. Bottle means for washing. C:20 M:0 Y:30 K:0 as Sparrow Grass. vessel. C:16 M:16 Y:0 K:2 C:64.5 M:17 Y:86.5 K:2 C:90 M:40 Y:80 K:20 VIOLET MULBERRY EMERALD The colour of flowers from the genus Colour of mulberries. The mulberry tree GRAPE The word comes from Latin. It means Viola. One of the 7 colours of the is a weed in South-East Queensland. Colour of grapes, the fruit of the EAU DE NIL precious green gemstone. LILAC rainbow. C:22 M: 85 Y:13 K: 30 deciduous woody vines of the botanical French meaning water of the Nile, the C:90 M:0 Y:90 K:10 genus Vitis. LINCOLN GREEN The colour of a lilac flower Syringa C: 65 M: 80 Y: 0 K: 0 colour of the water of Egypt’s River Nile. The colour of the herb. It means wise. Material made in the city of Lincoln and C:70 M: 100 Y:4 K: 1 vulgaris. Lilacs symbolise love. Persian C:33 M:3 Y:42.5 K:0 the colour of ’s tights. for bluish. C:51 M:22 Y:55 K:4 C:94.5 M:36.5 Y:100 K:37 C:20 M:30 Y:0 K:15 WHITE YELLOW IVORY ALMOND PUTTY BUFF OCHRE BANANA The colour of animal tusks, particularly The colour of the almond flower, A pale grey, the colour of putty. From The dull light yellow colour of buff A native earth coloured a pale brownish The colour of a ripe banana. The word elephant tusks. It means elephant. Amygdalus communis. French meaning potful. leather made from buffalo hide. yellow. The word is from Greek for pale. (and the fruit) is from Guinea in Africa. From the Sanskrit word cvid meaning C:1 M:0 Y:15 K:3 C:2.5 M:12 Y:17 K:0 C:10 M:10 Y:10 K:0 From Old English word gelo, its first C:3.5 M:10 Y:62 K:0 C:7 M:29 Y:100 K:0.5 C:0 M:10 Y:40 K:0 to be white or bright. The Inuit people known use is in the poem Beowulf. Y in have seven different words for white. CMYK. Yellow pigments include chrome C:0 M:0 Y:0 K:0 and cadmium. ECRU BISQUE STONE C:0 M:0 Y:100 K:0 TOPAZ OLD GOLD JONQUIL Meaning unbleached, ecru is the colour A type of unglazed white porcelain. The colour of stone. Dark yellow precious stone. Named after Colour of gold, the precious metal. Gold A pale yellow flower Narcissus jonquilla. of unbleached linen. C:0 M:10 Y:20 K:0 C:5 M:5 Y:5 K:10 an island in the Red Sea. means yellow. From Latin juncus meaning rush. ALABASTER C:5 M:4 Y:10 K:0 C:0 M:18 Y:100 K:0 C:16.5 M:25 Y:99 K:0 C:0 M:0 Y:60 K:0 A smooth white stone from the Ancient LEMON Egyptian word a-labaste, which refers to The colour of the lemon. The word may vessels of the Egyptian goddess Bast. EGGSHELL ALICE BLUE come from the Persian word limun. C:1 M:3 Y:6 K:1 CREAM Colour of hens’ eggs. The pale blue colour of a gown worn by C:1 M:3 Y:80 K:0 EGG YOLK SAFFRON CITRINE Colour of cream, the oily part of milk C:5 M:20 Y:25 K:10 Alice Roosevelt Longworth, daughter Yolk is an early word for yellow. Yellow colour of the stigma of the flower Colour of the rind of the citron lemon. which settles on the top. of US president Theodore Roosevelt. It C:0 M:31 Y:100 K:0 Crocus sativus. It is also a spice. C:0 M:7 Y:100 K:0 C:1 M:0 Y:22 K:0 inspired a 1919 hit song Alice Blue Gown. C:10 M:30 Y:100 K:0 OYSTER C:5 M:0 Y:0 K:0 MUSTARD A pale beige colour like the colour of BEIGE The colour of culinary mustard. The oyster flesh. Beige is a fine woollen fabric used for word means burning wine. In Roman times mustard was made by mixing BARIUM YELLOW MIMOSA C:2 M:5 Y:13 K:5 CHAMPAGNE clothing. Unbleached it is the colour Yellow metallic element discovered in NANKEEN beige. mustard seeds with new wine. Plants in the genus Mimoseae include The colour of sparkling wine made in ICE BLUE 1808 by Sir Humphry Davy. From the Colour of a yellow cloth made in the wattles with their distinctive yellow C:0 M:13 Y:79 K:0 the Champagne region of France. C:3.5 M:8 Y:15.5 K:0 Very pale blue, the colour of ice. Greek word bary meaning heavy. Chinese city of Nankeen. blossoms. It means mimic. C:1 M:10 Y:20 K:3 C:20 M:0 Y:0 K:0 C:0 M:50 Y:100 K:0 C:3.5 M:10 Y:60 K:0 C:0 M:15 Y:100 K:0 GREY ORANGE WARM GRAY COOL GREY ASH GREY TEA ROSE BISCUIT COPPER Grey with red and yellow hints. San Francisco was called the “cool grey The powdery residue of a fire. Used as a Cultivated rose, a pale orange-pink. Light brown colour of dry crisp bread, Colour of the metal. In Latin, cyprian, C:0 M:5 Y:11 K:23 city of love” by poet George Sterling, colour name in English since 1374. C:0 M:20 Y:20 K:0 originally meaning baked twice. metal from the island of Cyprus. An Old English word, the colour because of the fog. C6 M:0 Y:5 K:25 The colour of the orange citrus fruit. C:2.5 M:26 Y:49 K:10 C:16 M:63 Y:100 K:3 between black and white. Also spelt C3 M:0 Y:0 K:32 Originally from the Sanskrit word gray. Some think the two spellings have naranja. One of the 7 colours of the different meanings: gray is warm gray rainbow. APRICOT and grey is cool grey. DOVE Colour of a bird of the pigeon family. GUNMETAL C:0 M:62.5 Y:97.5 K:0 Colour of the apricot fruit. Portuguese CORAL RUST C:51 M:43 Y:43 K:7 The colour of guns. The word gun is C:24.5 M:19.5 Y:20 K:0 GLAUCOUS word meaning ripened in a sunny place. Greek word for the colour of red coral, Red-brown coating that forms on iron A grey bloom used to describe the a shorting of the old Scandinavian C:0 M:35 Y:52 K:0 the marine substance. when it oxidises. It means red. colour of plants. From Greek for bluish women’s name Gunnild. C:0 M:50 Y:69 K:0 C:0 M:53 Y:100 K:11 grey or green. C:19 M:5 Y:0 K:60 GINGER SILVER DUN C:20 M:10 Y:15 K:0 Light sandy-red, the colour of ginger Colour of the precious metal, chemical root, Zingiber officinale. Frequently used From the Celtic languages meaning PEACH element with symbol Ag. to describe a particular colour of red brown. The colour of a mouse. Colour of the peach fruit. Peach means SALMON SIENNA C:0 M:0 Y:0 K:12 hair. C:46 M:43.5 Y:46 K:4 STEEL GREY Persian although the peach itself Orange-pink colour of the flesh of the Terra Sienna, red earth found at Sienna SLATE GREY The colour of steel, hardened iron. Steel C:0 M:40 Y:60 K:5 actually originated in China. fish. Probably derived from the Latin in Italy. Heated, the colour changes to The blue-grey colour of slate, rock used is Teutonic meaning firm or rigid. C:0 M:12 Y:28 K:0 word salire meaning to leap. burnt sienna. for roofing. C:64 M:56 Y:55.5 K:31.5 C:0 M:50 Y:50 K:0 C:21 M:78.5 Y:99 K:10 PLATINUM CINEREOUS C:50 M:35 Y:20 K:10 Less lustrous than silver, platinum is a A brown ash grey. From Latin meaning AMBER chemical element with symbol Pt. From Translucent yellow colour of ambergris, like ash. SANDALWOOD the Spanish platina, meaning little silver. a resin excreted by whales, used to C:0 M:15 Y:19 K:40 CHARCOAL GREY Scented wood and dye from the genus TANGERINE CINNAMON C:10 M:10 Y:10 K:0 BATTLESHIP GREY Colour of coal. The origin of the word is manufacture perfume. of plants Santalum. Colour of tangerine citrus fruit. It refers Bark of Cinnamomum zeylanicum which A bluish-grey, the colour of battleships. obscure. It probably means burnt coal. C:0 M:33 Y:100 K:6 C:10 M:28 Y:71 K:0 to Tangier, a seaport in Morocco. is a yellow brown colour. C:50 M:31 Y:18 K:40 C:67 M:60 Y:59 K:43 C:0 M:78 Y:100 K:0 C:2 M:57 Y:100 K:17 BLACK BROWN MOCHA AUBURN KHAKI CHOCOLATE RUSSET Colour of coffee from Mocha, a port city Brown, originally meant brownish white In international motor racing the colour From Persian meaning dust. The colour of chocolate. The word Coarse homemade cloth, red-brown in Yemen. or blonde. Frequently used to describe of Great Britain. Very dark green. C:25 M:28 Y:44.5 K:0 chocolate is from the Nahuatl language colour, used for peasant clothing. From From the Middle English word blak. May C:51 M:79.5 Y:71 K:50 a hair colour. C:98 M:50 Y:80 K:34 From Old English brun meaning dusky of South Mexico meaning bitter water. Old French rousset meaning red. have originally have meant burnt or C:0 M:75 Y:100 K:60 or dark. Hitler wore brown silk pyjamas C:19 M:59 Y:100 K:43 C:29 M:77.5 Y:100 K:26 scorched. The last letter of black is the K with a swastika embroidered on the in CMYK. Also called ebony, jet, raven. pocket. FAWN C:0 M:0 Y:0 K:100 HENNA AUBERGINE C:23 M:79 Y:100 K:15.5 The colour of a young deer. From Latin Body and hair dye made from leaves of BEAVER The dark purple colour of the skin of meaning offspring. SEPIA MAHOGANY Egyptian Privet Lawsonia inermis. Shade of brown resembling the fur of European eggplant, a large edible C:36 M:42 Y:53.5 K:5 Pigment made from the ink of cuttlefish Fine-grained hardwood of Swietenia C:51 M:98 Y:83 K:70 a beaver, an amphibious rodent of the berry. Eggplants come in many colours in the genus Sepia. Black-and-white mahagoni, a tree from tropical Americas. MIDNIGHT BLUE Aryan family. Beaver fur was used to including white and green. TAWNY photographs were often tinted with C:0 M:85 Y:87 K:60 Very dark blue, an imaginary colour of make hats, nearly driving beavers to C:57 M:70 Y:0 K:54 Tawny is a variation of tan. It means sepia. extinction in Europe. midnight. crushed oak bark, used to make leather. BRONZE C:30 M:70 Y:100 K:25 C:100 M:99 Y:21 K:48 OXBLOOD C:50 M:70.5 Y:79.5 K:66.5 C:13 M:36 Y:48 K:18 The colour of an alloy of copper and Blood of an ox, used for gems, leather tin. Possibly from the German word for NUTMEG and porcelain. INDIGO burnt. Hard round fruit of tree Myristica C:41.5 M:90.5 Y:82 K:65 From Latin meaning Indian, indigo is C:20 M:50 Y:100 K:10 UMBER fragrans or M. officinalis used as spice. WALNUT DONKEY one of the 7 colours of the rainbow. FALLOW Brown earth originally found near From Latin meaning nut musk. Colour of walnut wood. Walnut is The colour of a donkey Equus asinus. Indigo dye is extracted from the plant Colour of withered grass or leaves, pale Cologne, Germany. From Latin meaning C:31.5 M:77 Y:91 K:31 derived from “Welsh nut”, Welsh Donkey is a recent word derived from Indigofera tinctoria. Used as a colour browny yellow. It means pale. shadow. The pigment is heated to the name Duncan. Donkeys have been name in English since 1289. become burnt umber. originally meaning “foreign”. TAUPE C:18.5 M:40.5 Y:65.5 K:0.5 CHESTNUT C:51 M:70 Y:71 K:50 used by humans for more than 5000 C:88 M: 88 Y:10 K:22 C:30 M:80 Y:100 K:50 From French meaning mole, colour of years. Nut from the tree Castanea vesca. moleskin. C:40 M:40 Y:40 K:40 C:0 M:53 Y:64 K:41 C:54 M:63 Y:71.5 K:53.5