Letter #25: Obscure Colors

A list of words themed 'round the color wheel

Post last updated November 19th, 2023.

Dear readers,

Hope everyone is having a day as glorious as you are!

I’ve been bouncing back and forth between ideas related to colors. I’m not quite ready with the deep dive I’ve taken into paints and dyes related to color yet, but I have compiled this list during the course of my search. (And as I get more Word of the Day emails, because I love them.)

And with that, here are the words. You may know some or you may learn some!

Colorful Words

1. Violescent: “tending to be violet” (Dictionary.com) comes from the Latin viola (“violet”) and -escent suffix (“starting to be”)

2. Rufescent: reddish, “tinged with red” (Dictionary.com)

3. Smaragd: emerald that comes from the “Middle English smaragde, from Latin smaragdus, from Greek smaragdos, of Semitic origin; akin to Akkadian barraqtu gemstone” (Merriam-Webster). The word “emerald” comes from this, transforming from the “Latin *smaralda, from Latin smaragdus, from Greek smaragdos [to] Middle English emerallde, from Anglo-French esmeralde” (Merriam-Webster)

4. Prasine: the color of a green leek (Merriam-Webster)

5. Verdant: literally just a pretty word for “green” (Merriam-Webster)

6. Polychromatic: “having or exhibiting a variety of colors” (Dictionary.com)

7. Perse: a deep shade of purple or blue (Dictionary.com)

8. Greige: grey-beige ((Everything 4 Writers)

9. Haematic/Hematic: the color of blood; of, containing, or relating to the color of blood (Collins English Dictionary)

   “Haematic” is the British English spelling while “hematic” is the U.S. English spelling.

10. Lovat: “a grayish blend of colors, esp. of green, used in textiles, as for plaids” (Collins English Dictionary)

    The color likely gets its name from “Thomas Alexander Fraser, Lord Lovat (1802–75), who popularized tweeds in muted colors” (Collins). I very much enjoy a good tweed fabric, so this was a fun one to find!

11. Madder: a reddish dye made from Brazil wood (Wikipedia)

12. Titian: red-gold (Collins English Dictionary)

    The color was named after the hair color Titian often used in his paintings. He was the Venetian painter (1488/1490-1576) behind some *very* famous paintings, and is likened to Michelangelo and Rembrandt. He painted the very famous “The Assumption of the Virgin.”

    Also, he died on August 27, 1576, so this past Saturday was the 446th anniversary of his death, interestingly enough (Britannica).

Honorable Mentions

*The not-so-obscure-but-I-adore-these-and-they’re-fun. Also, anything without a citation is just my own description.

1. Aubergine: the color of an eggplant, a dark purple

2. Mauve/Mauveine: pale purple-pink

   While you may think of this color as the “dusty rose” shade from your grandma’s ‘80s bathroom, this color has been around for much longer than the 1980s. William Perkin actually accidentally discovered this purple dye in 1856 while trying to treat malaria (Stewart xv, 98). Mauve became the first industrial dye and an instant hit in Victorian England, as Queen Victoria wore the color to her daughter’s 1858 wedding (xv, 4).

3. Peridot: greenish gem

   This is the birthstone for August. One of my first favorite reference books as a kid (okay, wow, that sounded better in my head) included a whole spread of birthstones. The two-spread section was my favorite part of the book, and I would bring it in to school to point out what my friend’s birthstones were based on their birthdays. I was literally always this dorky.

4. Russett: reddish-brown

   What came first, the potato or the color?

   According to my research, the color is in reference to a type of course wool cloth called russet, which was reddish-brown… dyed using madder! (Yeah, like the color from earlier!) The earliest date the color (or possibly the cloth?) is mentioned seems to be about 1225-1275. The definition also includes apples! It is apparently a verb as well, meaning to develop red or brown spots known as russeting.

   Ah-ha! Vocabulary.com states that the potato is named for the color of the potato’s skin, but the apple variety’s name comes from its rough skin.

5. Vermillion: very bright red

   I loved that this was a color in my crayon box as a third grader. Reading the names of crayons as a kid was probably my favorite part of elementary school, to be honest!

6. Chartreuse: yellow-green

   Fun fact: This was my first favorite word, again listed on the name of a crayon! Yes, I do have a favorite words list, and yes, it is stupidly long.

   What came first, the beverage or the color?

   The drink! The color is named for the French liquor that monks developed as a form of medicine in the 1600s, but was then so popular it became a beverage, then later the name of a color (GallantCulture).

Thanks to this Pinterest post for reminding me of some colors, along with teaching me some new ones that made it onto this list!

Further Reading

ROY G. BIV: An Exceedingly Surprising Book About Color by Jude Stewart

This fascinating book has stuck with me for years. It’s an informative, entertaining read and great reference book I’d recommend if you’re curious about anything relating to the history of pigments, how colors have affected our world, what colors signify, etc.

Thank you so much for reading! Have a wonderful rest of your day!

Happy reading!

Quote of the Week:

“When you write a book about color, you realize one thing in a hurry: You can bring color and words into closer proximity, on the page or on a canvas, but you can’t make them fully merge.”

-Jude Stewart

Works Cited (MLA 9th Ed.)

DuBois, Stephanie. “The Unexpected History of the Color Chartreuse.” Gallant Culture, Gallant Culture, https://www.gallantculture.com/blog/the-unexpected-history-of-the-color-chartreuse.

“Haematic Definition and Meaning: Collins English Dictionary.” Haematic Definition and Meaning | Collins English Dictionary, Collins 2022, https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/haematic.

“Lovat Definition and Meaning: Collins English Dictionary.” Lovat Definition and Meaning | Collins English Dictionary, Collins 2022, https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/lovat.

“Perse.” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, 7 Aug. 2022, https://www.dictionary.com/e/word-of-the-day/perse-2022-08-07/?param=wotd-email&click=ca77rh&lctg=611986b9fcbf327a0d6f0a54&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Live+WOTD+Recurring+2022-08-07&utm_term=WOTD.

“Polychromatic.” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, https://www.dictionary.com/e/word-of-the-day/polychromatic-2022-03-18/?param=wotd-email&click=ca77rh?param%3Dwotd-email&click=ca77rh&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Live%20WOTD%20Recurring%202022-03-18&utm_term=WOTD. Accessed 16 Jul 2022.

“Prasine.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prasine. Accessed 16 Jul 2022.

“Rose Madder.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_madder.

“Rufescent.” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, https://www.dictionary.com/browse/rufescent. Accessed 14 May 2022.

“Smaragd.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/smaragd. Accessed 14 May 2022.

Stewart, Jude. ROY G. BIV: An Exceedingly Surprising Book About Color. BLOOMSBURY, 2013.

“Titian Red Definition and Meaning: Collins English Dictionary.” Titian Red Definition and Meaning | Collins English Dictionary, Collins 2022, https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/titian-red.

“Violescent.” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, 15 Jan. 2022, https://www.dictionary.com/e/word-of-the-day/violescent-2022-01-15/. Accessed 14 May 2022.

Wethey, Harold E. “Titian.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 23 Aug. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Titian.

“‘Words’-Everything 4 Writers: Writing Words, Book Writing Tips, Writing Tips.” Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/pin/688910074239215101/.

“5 Better Ways to Say 'Green'.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, 13 Apr. 2022, https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/green-words/prasine.