Colour Names

A colour name is a region, not a point. This lexicon records what each common English name covers, where its edges are, which names overlap, and why teal, mauve or taupe start arguments — and how nineteen other languages draw the same boundaries elsewhere.

Ranges are Colourwise's reading of common English usage, anchored on cited reference values, and are stated as such. Other languages divide colour differently and are not assumed to map one-to-one: a separate cross-language lexicon records their terms in words, from sources that describe each language's own categories, and gives no colour values for them.

26 topics · 130 evidence-labelled claims · 71 sources

Tools

Colour name explorer Colour words across languages

Where one name ends

Pairs and groups of names people confuse.

Is teal blue or green?Neither, strictly: teal names a dark blue-green that sits in the gap English leaves between the colours it calls green and the co…Is there a real difference between burgundy and maroon?Only a small one, and only in some sources.What is the difference between scarlet and crimson?Hue first, then depth: scarlet is the red that leans towards orange, crimson the red that leans towards blue, and crimson is usua…What colour is mauve, and how is it different from lavender?Mauve has two meanings in current use — a light purple, following the original dye, and a greyed pink close to dusty rose — while…Why do beige and taupe mean such different colours to different people?Because taupe has two meanings.Is cyan the same colour as turquoise?No, though they are close neighbours.Which is darker, navy or midnight blue?It depends on the source, which is the most useful thing to know about this pair.What is the difference between auburn and chestnut?Mostly vividness.Are magenta and fuchsia the same colour?On the web, exactly: CSS defines both as #ff00ff.What is the difference between cream and ivory?Both are whites with a little yellow in them; ivory has less.What is the difference between coral and salmon?Coral is the stronger and more orange of the two; salmon is the softer and pinker.What colour is chartreuse?A vivid yellow-green, named in 1884 after a French liqueur.

How colour names work

Basic terms, naming systems and language.

What are basic colour terms, and do all languages have the same ones?Basic colour terms are the small set of short, general colour words every speaker of a language knows and uses for anything — in…Where do colour names come from?Almost always from a thing: a dye or pigment, a plant, a mineral, a food, an animal, a place or an event.Is it spelled grey or gray, and do they mean different colours?They are one word and one colour.Why do pigment names like ultramarine and ochre not match one exact colour?Because each began as the name of a material, and a material has a range of colours where a colour word is expected to have one.How do researchers decide whether a colour word is a basic colour term?They ask many speakers to list colour words and to name colour samples, then check each word against Berlin and Kay's four criter…How do colour words change meaning over time?In a handful of recurring ways.

Colour names across languages

How other languages divide colour, what that does and does not change, and how to translate colour words.

How do other languages divide colour differently from English?In four ways: how many everyday colour words there are, where the lines between them fall, which quality a line follows — hue, li…Which languages have two basic words for blue?Russian (goluboy and siniy), Greek (ghalazio and ble), Italian (azzurro and blu, with celeste as a third for Tuscan speakers) and…Why do some languages use one word for blue and green?Because one everyday term across the cool colours is a common and workable way to divide colour: in a cluster analysis of the Wor…Does the language you speak change the colours you see?Not in the sense of what your eyes can resolve: when the smallest detectable colour differences were measured, English and Korean…Do languages add colour words in a fixed order?Not in a fixed order, but not at random either.Why can't colour names be translated word for word?Because the words do not cover the same colours.Where do different languages put the line between green and blue?In different places, and some put no line there at all.Does one language use the same colour words in every country?No.