The colorkhaki (UK:/ˈkɑːki/,US:/ˈkæki/) is a light shade of tan with a slight yellowish tinge.

Khaki has been used by many armies around the world for uniforms and equipment, particularly in arid or desert regions, where it providescamouflage relative to sandy or dusty terrain. It has been used as a color name in English since 1848 when it was introduced as a military uniform.^[1] In Western fashion, it is a standard color forsmart casual dress trousers for civilians, which are also often calledkhakis.

In British English and some other Commonwealth usage,khaki may also refer to a shade of green known asolive drab.^[2][3][4]

Khaki is aloanword fromUrduخاکی 'soil-colored', which in turn comes fromPersianخاک[χɒːk]khāk 'soil' +ی (adjectival attributive suffix); it came into English via theBritish Indian Army.^[5][6]

Khaki was first worn as a uniform in theCorps of Guides that was raised in December 1846 byHenry Lawrence (1806–1857),^[6] agent to the Governor-General for the North-West Frontier and stationed inLahore. Initially the border troops were dressed in their native costume, which consisted of a smock and white pajama trousers made of a coarse home-spun cotton, and a cotton turban, supplemented by a leather or padded cotton jacket for cold weather. In 1848, a khaki uniform was introduced.^[7] Subsequently, all regiments serving in the region, whether British or Indian, had adopted khaki uniforms for active service and summer dress. The original khaki fabric was a closely twilled cloth oflinen orcotton.

The impracticality of traditional bright colors such as thered coat, especially for skirmishing, was recognised early in the 19th century.^[8][9] A response to improved technologies such asaerial surveillance andsmokeless powder, khaki could camouflage soldiers in the field of battle.^[10][6]

Khaki-colored uniforms were used officially by British troops for the first time during the1868 Expedition to Abyssinia, when Indian troops traveled to Ethiopia.^[11] Subsequently, theBritish Army adopted khaki for colonial campaign dress and it was used in theMahdist War (1884–89) andSecond Boer War (1899–1902). These uniforms became known askhaki drill, versions of which are still part of theuniforms of the British Army.

During the Second Boer War, the British forces became known as Khakis because of their uniforms.^{[citation needed]} After victory in the war, the government called an election, which became known as thekhaki election, a term used subsequently for elections called to exploit public approval of governments immediately after military victories.

TheUnited States Army adopted khaki during theSpanish–American War (1898), replacing their traditional blue field uniforms. TheUnited States Navy andUnited States Marine Corps followed suit, authorizing khaki field and work uniforms.

When khaki was adopted for the continental BritishService Dress in 1902, the shade chosen had a clearly darker and more green hue (see photo). This color was adopted with minor variations by all the British Empire armies. The 1902 US Army uniform regulations also adopted a similar shade for soldiers' winter service uniforms under the nameolive drab. This shade of brown-green remained in use by many countries throughout the two World Wars.

Following World War II, military-issue khaki-coloredchino cloth twill trousers became a common part of civilian clothing. Today, the termkhakis is sometimes used to refer to the style of trousers, properly called chinos, regardless of their color.

At right is displayed the colorlight khaki (also called khaki tan or justtan).

This is theweb color calledkhaki inHTML/CSS.^{[citation needed]}

The color shown at right matches the color designated askhaki in the 1930 bookA Dictionary of Color, the standard for color nomenclature before the introduction of computers.

At right is displayed the web colordark khaki.^[13]

It corresponds toDark Khaki in theX11 color names.

At right is displayed the colorkhaki green, sometimes called simplykhaki inCommonwealth countries. It is more commonly calledolive green orolive drab.

• Khaki University
• Feldgrau

•   The dictionary definition ofkhaki at Wiktionary
•   Media related tokhaki at Wikimedia Commons