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=== Abstract and descriptive color terms === Color terms can be classified as ''abstract'' or ''descriptive'', 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 also ''basic color terms'' (as described above), though other abstract terms like [[maroon]] and [[magenta]] 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 of [[salmon]] flesh, [[rose]] flowers, infusions of [[saffron]] pistils, and [[lilac]] blossoms respectively. Abstract color terms in one may be represented by descriptive color terms in another; for example in Japanese pink is {{lang|ja-Latn|momoiro}} ({{lang|ja|桃色}}, {{Lit|peach-color}}) and gray is either {{lang|ja-Latn|haiiro}} or {{lang|ja-Latn|nezumiiro}} ({{lang|ja|灰色}}, {{lang|ja|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 adopted {{lang|ja-Latn|pinku}} ({{lang|ja|ピンク}}) for pink and {{lang|ja-Latn|gurē}} ({{lang|ja|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 a [[dianthus|flower 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 the [[dye]] named [[Tyrian purple]], which took its name from the Latin {{lang|la|purpura}}, which referred to both the dye and the [[sea snail]] from which the dye was derived. However, this etymological link has been lost in translation. * ''[[Orange (word)|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|date=March 2024}} 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 French {{lang|fr|orenge}}, which derives via [[Arabic]] {{wikt-lang|ar|نارنج}} ({{lang|ar-Latn|nāranj}}) and [[Sanskrit]] {{wikt-lang|sa|नारङ्ग}} ({{lang|sa-Latn|nāraṅga}}) from a [[Dravidian languages|Dravidian language]] such as [[Tamil language|Tamil]] or [[Tulu language|Tulu]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |date=June 2012 |title=orange, n.1 and adj.1 |encyclopedia=[[Oxford English Dictionary]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/132163 |access-date=2012-09-04}}</ref> The derived form ''orangish'' as a color is attested from the late 19th century<ref>''[[Oxford English Dictionary]],'' 'orangish'</ref> by reference to the fruit.
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