Color wheels withEnglish color terms forRYB (above) andCMYK (below) approaches.

Acolor term (or color name) is a word orphrase that refers to a specific color. The color term may refer to human perception of that color (which is affected by visual context) which is usually defined according to theMunsell color system, or to an underlying physical property (such as a specificwavelength on thespectrum ofvisible light). There are also numerical systems of color specification, referred to ascolor spaces.

An important distinction must be established between color and shape, as these two attributes usually are used in conjunction with one another when describing in language. For example, they are labeled as alternative parts of speech terms color term and shape term.^[1]

Psychological conditions for recognition of colors exist, such as those who cannot discern colors in general or those who see colors as sound (a variety ofsynesthesia).

Typical humancolor vision istrichromatic, meaning it is based on a three-dimensional colorgamut. These three dimensions can be defined in different ways, but often the most intuitive definition are the dimensions of theHSL/HSV color space:

• Hue: representing the different colors of therainbow orcolor wheel (e.g. 'red', 'orange', 'yellow', etc.); roughly analogous to the color'swavelength orfrequency.
• Saturation: thecolorfulness of the color, i.e. a measure of vibrant vs. pale.
• Luminosity: a measurement of intensity or 'brightness'.

Monolexemic color words are composed of individuallexemes, orroot words, such as 'red', 'brown', 'fuchsia', or 'olive'. The root words generally describe the hue of the color, but some root words—namely brown—can also describe the other dimensions. Compound color words make use of prefix adjectives (e.g. 'light brown', 'sea green'), that generally describe the saturation or luminosity, or compounded basic color words (e.g. 'yellow-green'), which refine the hue of the color relative to root words.Vaaleanpunainen, theFinnish word for 'pink', is a clearagglutination of the language's words for 'pale' (vaalea) and 'red' (punainen).

Basic color terms meet the following criteria:^[2]

• monolexemic ('green', but not 'light green' or 'forest green'),
• high-frequency, and
• agreed upon by speakers of that language.

English has 11 basic color terms:black,white,red,green,yellow,blue,brown,orange,pink,purple, andgray; other languages have between 2 and 12. All other colors are considered by most speakers of that language to be variants of these basic color terms. A usefullitmus test involves replacing each of these basic terms with an approximation of other basic terms, e.g. replacing orange with red-yellow. If the approximation isjarring, the replaced term likely meets the requirement for being a basic color term.An example of a color that comes close to being a basic color term in English isturquoise. It is monolexemic, but is not very high frequency, especially compared to alternatives teal or cyan. It also generally fails the above litmus test in that most people do not find the use of the approximation of other basic color terms (blue-green) to be jarring.

In the classic study ofBrent Berlin andPaul Kay (1969),Basic Color Terms: Their Universality and Evolution,^[2] the researchers argued that the differences in number of basic color terms in languages follow a repeatable pattern. Color terms can be organized into a coherent hierarchy and there are a limited number of universalbasic color terms which begin to be used by individual cultures in a relatively fixed order. This order is defined in stages I to VII. Berlin and Kay originally based their analysis on a comparison of color words in 20 languages from around the world. The model is presented below, broken into stages, with stage I on the left and stage VII on the right:^[3]

Berlin and Kay's study identified seven stages of color distinction systems. Each progressive stage features a color term that the previous stages do not.

Stage I contains two terms, white and black (light and dark); these terms are referenced broadly to describe other undefined color terms. For example, theYali highland group in New Guinea identify the color of blood as black. This is because blood, as a relatively dark liquid, is grouped into the same color classification as black.

In theBassa language, there are two terms for classifying colors;ziza (white, yellow, orange, and red) andhui (black, violet, blue, and green).^[5]

In thePirahã language, there appear to be no color terms beyond describing lightness and darkness.^[6]

TheDani language ofwestern New Guinea differentiates only two basic colors:mili for cool/dark shades such as blue, green, and black; andmola for warm/light colors such as red, yellow, and white.^[7][8]

Stage II implements a third term for red. Objects begin to rely less on their brightness for classification and in this stage we instead see each term cover a larger scope of colors. Specifically, blue and other darker shades continue to be described as black, yellow and orange colors are classified with red, and other bright colors continue to be classified with white.

In theBambara language, there are three color terms:dyema (white, beige),blema (reddish, brownish), andfima (dark green, indigo, and black).

Stage III identifies a third term referring either to green (IIIa) or yellow (IIIb). Most languages in the study with this system identify yellow over green, such as theKomi language, where green is considered a shade of yellow (виж,vizh), calledтурун виж (turun vizh)'grass yellow'.^[9] However, the NigerianIbibio language and the PhilippineHanunoo language both identify green instead of yellow.

TheOvahimba usefour color names:zuzu stands for dark shades of blue, red, green, and purple;vapa is white and some shades of yellow;buru is some shades of green and blue; anddambu is some other shades of green, red, and brown.^[10] It is thought that this mayincrease the time it takes for the Ovahimba to distinguish between two colors that fall under the sameHerero color category, compared to people whose language separates the colors into two different color categories.^[11]

Stage IV incorporates green or yellow, whichever was not already present, i.e. stage IIIa languages will adopt yellow and stage IIIb languages will adopt green. Most stage IV languages continue tocolexify blue and green, as listed inBlue–green distinction in language.

TheChinese character青 (pronouncedqīng inMandarin andao in Japanese) has a meaning that covers both blue and green. In more contemporary terms, they are藍 (lán, in Mandarin) and綠 (lǜ, in Mandarin) respectively. Japanese also has two terms that refer specifically to the color green,緑 (midori, derived from the classical Japanese descriptive verbmidoru'to be in leaf, to flourish' in reference to trees) andグリーン (guriin, which is derived from the English word 'green').^{[citation needed]}

Stage V introduces blue as its own color term, differentiating from black or from green.

The seventh basic color term is likely to be brown.

In English, this is the first basic color term (other than black and white) that is not differentiated on hue, but rather on lightness. English splits some hues into several distinct colors according to lightness: such as red and pink or orange and brown. To English speakers, these pairs of colors, which are objectively no more different from one another than light green and dark green, are conceived of as belonging to different categories.^[2]

Stage VII adds additional terms for orange, pink, purple, or gray, but these do not exhibit the same hierarchy as the previous seven colors.^[12]

English contains eleven basic color terms: 'black', 'white', 'red', 'green', 'yellow', 'blue', 'brown', 'orange', 'pink', 'purple', and 'gray'.

Languages with further color distinction use relativistic light/dark terms like light blue /dark blue (in comparison to blue sky / blue ocean), orpale red /deep red.

Italian,Russian andHebrew have twelve basic color terms, each distinguishing blue and light blue. A Russian will make the same red/pink and orange/brown distinctions, but will also make a further distinction betweenсиний (sinii) andголубой (goluboi), which English speakers would call dark and light blue. To Russian speakers,sinii andgoluboi are as separate as red and pink, or orange and brown.^[13]

Hungarian andTurkishdistinguish multiple words for 'red':piros andvörös (Hungarian;vörös is a darker red), andkırmızı,al, andkızıl (Turkish);kırmızı now includes all reds but originally referred to crimson, to which it is cognate, whilekızıl mainly refers to scarlet and other orange-tinted or brownish reds. Two words for 'red' are also found in Irish andScottish Gaelic: (dearg for light, bright red andrua orruadh respectively for dark, brownish red). Turkish also has two words for 'white' (beyaz andak) and 'black' (siyah andkara).Ak andbeyaz have the same meaning, whilekara is a broader term thansiyah and also includes dark browns; which word is used also depends on the kind of object being described. Bothak andkara are of Turkic origin, whilesiyah is borrowed fromPersian, andbeyaz from Arabicبياضbayāḍ.

InSerbo-Croatian there are differences in dark brown (mrk), brown (smeđ andkestenjast), red (crven), pink (ružičast), and orange (narandžast), as well as in blue hues: navy blue (teget), dark blue (modar), blue (plav), and ash blue (sinj).

An interesting case that deviates from this pattern isIrish's two words for green:

• glas denotes the green color of plants
• uaine denotes artificial greens of dyes, paints etc.

This distinction is made even if two shades are identical.Glas is also used for "natural" grays, such as thegray squirrel,iora glas.^[14][15]

These colors roughly correspond to the sensitivities of the retinal ganglion cells, leading Berlin and Kay to argue that color naming is not merely a cultural phenomenon, but is one that is also constrained by biology—that is, language is shaped by perception.^[2] A 2012 study^[16] suggested that the origin of this hierarchy may be tied to human vision and the time ordering in which these color names get accepted or agreed upon in a population perfectly matches the order predicted by the hierarchy.

This article mostly describes the color terms that define thehue of a color, since hue is considered the most innate dimension of the three. However, other terms are often used to describe the other two dimensions, which can be seen as common prefixes to the root terms that generally describe hue. Adding prefixes to root color terms generatesmultilexemic colors. Examples of common prefix adjectives can be seen in alist of color names and are described:

• Brightness: can describe either high luminosity or high saturation, according to theHelmholtz–Kohlrausch effect and/orHunt effect.
• Lightness: describes both a high luminosityand low saturation
• Darkness: the opposite of lightness, or low luminosity
• Paleness,dullness: a measure of desaturation
• Deep,Royal: may refer to darkness and/or high saturation; unrelated tocolor depth.
• Pure,Bold,Vivid,Rich: all referring to high saturation
• Pastel: refers to colors with high luminosity and low saturation.
• Neon: bright, in either of the word's connotations; alluding to the bright glow ofneon lighting.
• Fluorescent: very bright, sometimes also highly saturated. Named after thefluorescence effect ofpigments anddyes, which can produce a luminous glow when viewed underultraviolet light, thereby appearing significantly brighter than their surroundings.^[17]

Other terms sometimes used to describe color are related to physical phenomenon that do not describe a single color, but describe the dynamic nature of an object's color. These include:

• Glossy: whether the surface reflectsdiffusely orspecularly (sharply)
• Metallic: distinguishing 'gold' and 'silver' from shades of 'yellow' and 'gray', respectively
• Iridescent: dependence of color on viewing angle, innate tostructural coloration
• Opacity: opaque (solid) vs. translucent (transparent or see-through)

Color terms can be classified asabstract ordescriptive, though the distinction is often unclear.

Abstract color terms refer only to the color they represent and any etymological link to an object of that color is lost. In English white, black, red, yellow, green, blue, brown, and gray are abstract color terms. These terms are alsobasic color terms (as described above), though other abstract terms like maroon andmagenta are not considered basic color terms.

Descriptive color terms are secondarily used to describe a color but primarily refer to an object or phenomenon. 'Salmon', 'rose', 'saffron', and 'lilac' are descriptive color terms in English because their use as color terms is derived in reference to natural colors ofsalmon flesh,rose flowers, infusions ofsaffron pistils, andlilac blossoms respectively.

Abstract color terms in one may be represented by descriptive color terms in another; for example in Japanese pink ismomoiro (桃色,lit. 'peach-color') and gray is eitherhaiiro ornezumiiro (灰色,鼠色, lit. 'ash-color' for light grays and 'mouse-color' for dark grays respectively). Nevertheless, as languages evolve they may adopt or invent new abstract color terms, as Japanese has adoptedpinku (ピンク) for pink andgurē (グレー) for gray from English.

While most of the 11 basic color terms in English are decidedly abstract, three of them (all stage VII, so understandably the youngest basic color terms) are arguably still descriptive:

• Pink was originally a descriptive color term derived from the name of aflower called a 'pink'. However, because the word 'pink' is rarely used to refer to the flower anymore, relative to its common usage as a color, it is often regarded as an abstract color term.
• Purple is another example of this shift, as it was originally a word that referred to thedye namedTyrian purple, which took its name from the Latinpurpura, which referred to both the dye and thesea snail from which the dye was derived. However, this etymological link has been lost in translation.
• Orange is difficult to categorize as abstract or descriptive because both its uses, as a color term and as a word for an object, are very common and it is difficult to distinguish which of the two is primary. As a basic color term it became established in the early-to-mid 20th century;^{[citation needed]} before that time artist's palettes called it 'yellow-red'. In English, the use of the word 'orange' for a fruit predates its use as a color term. The word comes from Frenchorenge, which derives viaArabic ‏نارنج‎ (nāranj) andSanskritनारङ्ग (nāraṅga) from aDravidian language such asTamil orTulu.^[18] The derived formorangish as a color is attested from the late 19th century^[19] by reference to the fruit.

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Research on color terms is often conducted without reference to common uses of the term or its significance within the context of its original language. InJohn A. Lucy's articleThe linguistics of 'colour' he identifies two key categories. One of these is "characteristic referential range", or the use of a color term to identify or differentiate a referent over a wide context.^[1]

Color objectivism holds that colors are objective, mind-independent properties of material objects or light sources and that color terms refer to objective reality. Two main forms are color primitivism, which sees colors as simple, irreducible qualities either realist or eliminativist, and color physicalism, which views colors as objective properties that require empirical investigation to understand. Color irrealism, eliminativism or fictionalism denies that material objects and light sources actually possess colors, though eliminativists may describe colors as dispositions or attributes of sensations, as seen in the work ofDescartes,Newton, and others. Color dispositionalism sees colors as dispositional properties, existing as powers to cause color experiences in perceivers using the right conditions.^[20] Averill's radical relationism argues that colors are relational properties. He suggests that the color term "yellow," for example, is a relational term tied to both populations of normal observers and optimal viewing conditions in specific environments.^[21]

ForWittgenstein, in his workRemarks on Colour, any puzzles about color and color terms can only be resolved through attention to thelanguage games involved. He stated that our description of colors are neither fullyempirical nora priori. Statements such as "there cannot be a reddish green" are taken as a part of alogical structure akin to geometry, institing that color-related terms and propositions are rooted in our language practices.

Frank Jackson'sknowledge argument againstphysicalism involves a famous thought experiment about Mary, a scientist knowing everything about the physical aspects of color, including physics and terms, but has lived her whole life in a black-and-white room. When Mary leaves the room and experiences color for the first time, she learns what it feels like to see color, i.e., acquires certainqualia while using the color term "red", suggesting subjective aspects of color experience.

Theinverted spectrum argument states that two people could experience different subjective experiences while seeing the same color even when using the same color term "red". For example, one person might see red as what the other experiences as green, even though they both use the color term "red".

Hardin addresses the everyday color terms like “red,” “yellow,” “green,” and “blue,” as essential reference points in the study of color. He explores what elements of color are fundamental versus accidental, emphasizing his focus on a core set of colors, including white, black, and gray, while acknowledging a special place for brown in color perception.^[22] Peacock explores the relationship between how we conceptualize colors and how we experience them, examining whether color concepts, shaped by language and cognition, align with our subjective experience of color perception.^[23]

For Foster, color constancy refers to the phenomenon where the perceived color of a surface remains stable despite changes in lighting conditions, such as intensity or spectral composition.^[24] Txapartegi analyzed how the ancient Greeks understood and categorized color through the concepts of hue, brightness, and saturation, using color terms from classical Greek texts.^[25]

Šekrst and Karlić introduced cognitive convenience, referring to naming of objects of a certain color, for which their hue is not as important as their brightness. For example, in various languages, grapes are described using color terms "white" and "black" even though their real hue is usually a certain shade of green or purple.^[26] Hansen and Chemla explore whether color adjectives, like "red" or "green," function as relative or absolute adjectives, using experimental methods instead of informal judgments. Their findings reveal interpersonal variation in how people apply color adjectives, challenging existing theories and highlighting the complexity of scalar adjectives and context sensitivity.^[27]

Decock analzyes conceptual change and engineering in the context of color concepts, arguing that in the case of conceptual change of colour concepts varying degrees of optimization, design and control are possible.^[28] Krempel investigates whether differences in color terminology across languages lead to differences in color experience, questioning whether language can penetrate and affect perception. She argues that empirical studies do not conclusively support the idea of linguistic penetrability in color experience, even if differences exist between speakers of different languages.^[29]

In contrast with the color terms of natural language, systematized color terms also exist. Some examples of color-naming systems areCNS^[30] andISCC–NBS lexicon of color terms. The disadvantage of these systems, however, is that they specify only specific color samples, so while it is possible to, by interpolating, convert any color to or from one of these systems, a lookup table is required. In other words, no simple invertible equation can convert betweenCIE XYZ and one of these systems.

Philatelists traditionally use names to identifypostage stamp colors. While the names are largely standardized within each country, there is no broader agreement, and so for instance the US-publishedScott catalogue will use different names than the BritishStanley Gibbons catalogue.

On modern computer systems a standard set of basic color terms is now used across theweb color names (SVG 1.0/CSS3),HTML color names,X11 color names and the.NET Framework color names, with only a few minor differences.

TheCrayola company is famous for its manycrayon colors, often creatively named.

Heraldry has standardized names for 'tinctures', subdivided into 'colors', 'metals', and 'furs'.

• Lists of colors
• Color wheel
• Lazarus Geiger
• How the Himba see green and blue
• Philosophy of color

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• The Colour of Words – Article on Color Names
• Coloria.net: Color names
• Japanese Colour Names Cheat Sheet
• Japanese Traditional Color Names
• Japanese colors with English names
• Inter-Society Color Council
• The color names inCSS 3: Color Module andSVG
• Survey of color dictionaries
• An Online Colour Naming Experiment
• Colour Words in Many Languages
• Test your own color terms
• SpoonFlower color map
• Color Method
• i.stack.imgur basic color terms
• HTML Color Picker

• Color names
• Shades of color

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