Editing Color term (section)

==In natural languages==

===Lexicology===
[[wikt:monolexemic|Monolexemic]] color words are composed of individual [[lexeme]]s, or ''root words'', such as 'red', 'brown', 'fuchsia', or 'olive'. The root words generally describe the hue of the color, but some root words{{Mdash}}namely brown{{Mdash}}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. {{lang|fi|Vaaleanpunainen}}, the [[Finnish language|Finnish]] word for 'pink', is a clear [[agglutination]] of the language's words for 'pale' ({{lang|fi|vaalea}}) and 'red' ({{lang|fi|punainen}}).

{{anchor|Basic}}

=== Basic color terms ===
{{further|Basic Color Terms}}
Basic color terms meet the following criteria:<ref name="BerlinKay1969"/>
* monolexemic ('green', but not 'light green' or 'forest green'),
* high-frequency, and
* agreed upon by speakers of that language.

[[English language|English]] has 11 basic color terms: [[black]], [[white]], [[red]], [[green]], [[yellow]], [[blue]], [[brown]], [[Orange (colour)|orange]], [[pink]], [[purple]], and [[gray]]; 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 useful [[litmus test (politics)|litmus 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 is ''[[wikt:jarring#Adjective|jarring]]'', 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 is ''turquoise''. 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.

===Color-term hierarchy===
In the classic study of [[Brent Berlin]] and [[Paul Kay]] (1969), ''[[Basic Color Terms|Basic Color Terms: Their Universality and Evolution]]'',<ref name="BerlinKay1969"/> 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 universal '''basic 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:<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kay |first1=Paul |last2=McDaniel |first2=Chad |year=1978 |title=The Linguistic Significance of the Meanings of Basic Color Terms |journal=Language |volume=54 |issue=3 |pages=610–646 |doi=10.1353/lan.1978.0035|s2cid=26961780 }}</ref><br/><math>\begin{Bmatrix}\text{white} \\ \text{black} \end{Bmatrix} < \text{red} < \begin{Bmatrix}\text{green} \\ \text{yellow} \end{Bmatrix} < \text{blue} < \text{brown} <\begin{Bmatrix}\text{purple} \\ \text{pink} \\ \text{orange} \\ \text{grey} \end{Bmatrix}</math>

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 (dark and light)====
{| class="wikitable" style="font-weight:bold; float:right"
|-
! style="background-color:#c0c0c0;" | Stage I<ref name=Kay99>{{cite journal |last1=Kay |first1=Paul |author-link2=Luisa Maffi |last2=Maffi |first2=Luisa |year=1999 |title=Color appearance and the emergence and evolution of basic color lexicons |journal=American Anthropologist |volume=101 |issue=4 |pages=743–760 |doi=10.1525/aa.1999.101.4.743|doi-access=free }}</ref>
! style="font-weight:normal;" | light–warm (white/yellow/red)<br/>dark–cool (black/blue/green)
|}
Stage I contains two terms, white and black (light and dark); these terms are referenced broadly to describe other undefined color terms. For example, the [[Yali people|Yali]] 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 the [[Bassa language]], there are two terms for classifying colors: {{lang|bsq|ziza}} (white, yellow, orange, and red) and {{lang|bsq|hui}} (black, violet, blue, and green).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McNeill |first1=N. B. |title=Colour and colour terminology |journal=Journal of Linguistics |date=28 November 2008 |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=21–33 |doi=10.1017/S002222670000311X|s2cid=26668333 }}</ref>

In the [[Pirahã language]], there appear to be no color terms beyond describing lightness and darkness.<ref>Kay, Paul. (2007). [http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/myl/languagelog/archives/004399.html ''Pirahã Color Terms'']. Retrieved 17 March 2019.</ref>

The [[Grand Valley Dani|Dani language]] of [[western New Guinea]] differentiates only two basic colors: {{lang|dni|mili}} for cool/dark shades such as blue, green, and black; and {{lang|dni|mola}} for warm/light colors such as red, yellow, and white.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fl8gAQAAIAAJ&q=mili+mola++|title=The Invention of Basic Colour Terms|first=Barbara Ann Christine|last=Saunders|year=1992|publisher=R.U.U.–I.S.O.R.|isbn=9789051870879 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/2800917|title=Probabilities, Sampling, and Ethnographic Method: The Case of Dani Colour Names|author=Heider, Eleanor Rosch|year=1972|journal=Man|volume=7|issue=3|pages=448–466|doi=10.2307/2800917|jstor=2800917 }}</ref>

====Stage II (red)====
{| class="wikitable" style="font-weight:bold; float:right"
|-
! style="background-color:#c0c0c0;" | Stage II<ref name=Kay99/>
! style="font-weight:normal;" | white<br/>red/yellow<br/>black/blue/green
|}
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 the [[Bambara language]], there are three color terms: {{lang|bm|dyema}} (white, beige), {{lang|bm|blema}} (reddish, brownish), and {{lang|bm|fima}} (dark green, indigo, and black).

====Stage III/IV (yellow + green)====
{| class="wikitable" style="font-weight:bold; float:right"
|-
! style="background-color:#c0c0c0;" | Stage III<ref name=Kay99/>
! style="font-weight:normal;" |white<br/>red<br/>yellow<br/>black/blue/green
! style="font-weight:normal;" |white<br/>red<br/>yellow/green/blue<br/>black
! style="font-weight:normal;" |white<br/>red/yellow<br/>green/blue<br/>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 the [[Komi language]], where green is considered a shade of yellow ({{lang|kv|виж}}, {{lang|kv|vizh}}), called {{lang|kv|турун виж}} ({{lang|kv|turun vizh)}} {{Gloss|grass yellow}}.<ref>Rueter, Jack M. (1996), Komia-anglisköĭ-finsköĭ</ref> However, the Nigerian [[Ibibio language]] and the Philippine [[Hanunoo language]] both identify green instead of yellow.

The [[Ovahimba]] use [[Himba people#Color perception and vision|four color names]]: {{lang|hz|zuzu}} stands for dark shades of blue, red, green, and purple; {{lang|hz|vapa}} is white and some shades of yellow; {{lang|hz|buru}} is some shades of green and blue; and {{Lang|hz|dambu}} is some other shades of green, red, and brown.<ref name="himba colour">{{cite book |last1=Roberson |first1=Debi |last2=Davidoff |first2=Jules |last3=Davies |first3=Ian R.L. |last4=Shapiro |first4=Laura R. |year=2006 |chapter=Colour categories and category acquisition in Himba and English |pages=159–172 |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company |doi=10.1075/z.pics2.14rob |editor1-first=Nicola |editor1-last=Pitchford |editor2-first=Carole P. |editor2-last=Biggam |title=Progress in Colour Studies |volume=II Psychological aspects |isbn=978-90-272-3240-3 |via=ResearchGate |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/43627151 |access-date=2012-05-28}}</ref> It is thought that this may [[Stroop effect|increase the time it takes]] for the Ovahimba to distinguish between two colors that fall under the same [[Herero people|Herero]] color category, compared to people whose language separates the colors into two different color categories.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Reiger |first1=Terry |first2=Paul |last2=Kay |title=Language, thought, and color: Whorf was half right |journal=[[Trends (journals)|Trends in Cognitive Sciences]] |date=28 August 2009 |doi=10.1016/j.tics.2009.07.001 |url=http://www1.icsi.berkeley.edu/~kay/tics2.pdf |access-date=2012-08-29 |volume=13 |issue=10 |pages=439–446 |pmid=19716754|s2cid=2564005 }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="font-weight:bold; float:right"
|-
! style="background-color:#c0c0c0;" | Stage IV<ref name=Kay99/>
! style="font-weight:normal;" |white<br/>red<br/>yellow<br/>green<br/>black/blue
! style="font-weight:normal;" |white<br/>red<br/>yellow<br/>green/blue<br/>black
|}
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 to [[colexification|colexify]] blue and green, as listed in ''[[Blue–green distinction in language]]''.

The [[Chinese character]] [[wikt:青|青]] (pronounced {{lang|cmn-Latn|qīng}} in [[Standard Chinese|Mandarin]] and {{lang|ja-Latn|ao}} in Japanese) has a meaning that covers both blue and green. In more contemporary terms, they are [[wikt:藍|藍]] ({{lang|cmn-Latn|lán}}, in Mandarin) and [[wikt:綠|綠]] ({{lang|cmn-Latn|lǜ}}, in Mandarin) respectively. Japanese also has two terms that refer specifically to the color green, {{wikt-lang|ja|緑}} ({{lang|ja-Latn|midori}}, derived from the classical Japanese descriptive verb {{lang|ja-Latn|midoru}} {{Gloss|to be in leaf, to flourish}} in reference to trees) and {{lang|ja|グリーン}} ({{lang|ja-Latn|guriin}}, which is derived from the English word 'green').{{Citation needed|date=January 2017}}

====Stage V (blue)====
{| class="wikitable" style="font-weight:bold; float:right"
|-
! style="background-color:#c0c0c0;" | Stage V<ref name=Kay99/>
! style="font-weight:normal;" |white<br/>red<br/>yellow<br/>green<br/>blue<br/>black
|}
Stage V introduces blue as its own color term, differentiating from black or from green.

====Stage VI (brown)====
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.<ref name="BerlinKay1969">{{cite book |author1-link=Brent Berlin |last1=Berlin |first1=Brent |author2-link=Paul Kay |first2=Paul |last2=Kay |year=1969 |title=Basic Color Terms: Their universality and evolution |title-link=Basic Color Terms: Their Universality and Evolution}}</ref>

====Stage VII====
Stage VII adds additional terms for orange, pink, purple, or gray, but these do not exhibit the same hierarchy as the previous seven colors.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Varley |editor-first=Helen |title=Color |location=London |date=1980 |publisher=Marshall Editions |isbn=0-89535-037-8 |chapter=The Vocabulary of Color |pages=50–51}}</ref> 

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

====Stage VII+====
[[File:Moscow-metro-light-blue-line.png|thumb|Use of light-blue ({{lang|ru|голубой}}, {{lang|ru-Latn|{{Itco|goluboi}} }}) and dark-blue ({{lang|ru|синий}}, {{lang|ru-Latn|{{Itco|sinii}} }}) colors for different lines of the [[Moscow Metro]]]]
Languages with further color distinction use relativistic light/dark terms like light blue{{Nbsp}}/ [[navy blue|dark blue]] (in comparison to blue sky{{Nbsp}}/ blue ocean), or [[pink|pale red]]{{Nbsp}}/ [[Maroon|deep red]].

[[Italian language|Italian]], [[Russian language|Russian]] and [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] 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 between {{lang|ru|синий}} ({{lang|ru-Latn|sinii}}) and {{lang|ru|голубой}} ({{lang|ru-Latn|goluboi}}), which English speakers would call dark and light blue. To Russian speakers, {{lang|ru-Latn|sinii}} and {{lang|ru-Latn|goluboi}} are as separate as red and pink, or orange and brown.<ref>{{cite news |title=Seeing the blues |magazine=Nature |series=News |date=2007-04-30 |url=http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070430/full/news070430-2.html}}</ref>

[[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] and [[Turkish language|Turkish]] [[Hungarian language#Two words for "red"|distinguish multiple words]] for 'red': {{lang|hu|piros}} and {{lang|hu|vörös}} (Hungarian; {{lang|hu|vörös}} is a darker red), and {{lang|tr|kırmızı}}, {{lang|tr|al}}, and {{lang|tr|kızıl}} (Turkish); {{lang|tr|kırmızı}} now includes all reds but originally referred to [[crimson]], to which it is cognate, while {{lang|tr|kızıl}} mainly refers to scarlet and other orange-tinted or brownish reds. Two words for 'red' are also found in Irish and [[Scottish Gaelic]]: ({{lang|ga|dearg}} for light, bright red and {{lang|ga|rua}} or {{lang|gd|ruadh}} respectively for dark, brownish red). Turkish also has two words for 'white' ({{lang|tr|beyaz}} and {{lang|tr|ak}}) and 'black' ({{lang|tr|siyah}} and {{lang|tr|kara}}). {{lang|tr|Ak}} and {{lang|tr|beyaz}} have the same meaning, while {{lang|tr|kara}} is a broader term than {{lang|tr|siyah}} and also includes dark browns; which word is used also depends on the kind of object being described. Both {{lang|tr|ak}} and {{lang|tr|kara}} are of Turkic origin, while {{lang|tr|siyah}} is borrowed from [[Persian language|Persian]], and {{lang|tr|beyaz}} from Arabic {{lang|ar|بياض}} {{lang|ar-Latn|bayāḍ}}.

In [[Serbo-Croatian]] there are differences in dark brown ({{lang|sh|mrk}}), brown ({{Lang|sh|smeđ}} and {{lang|sh|kestenjast}}), red ({{lang|sh|crven}}), pink ({{lang|sh|ružičast}}), and orange ({{lang|sh|narandžast}}), as well as in blue hues: navy blue ({{lang|sh|teget}}), dark blue ({{lang|sh|modar}}), blue ({{lang|sh|plav}}), and ash blue ({{lang|sh|{{Itco|sinj}} }}).

An interesting case that deviates from this pattern is [[Irish language|Irish]]'s two words for green:
* {{lang|ga|glas}} denotes the green color of plants
* {{lang|ga|uaine}} denotes artificial greens of dyes, paints etc.
This distinction is made even if two shades are identical. {{Lang|ga|Glas}} is also used for "natural" grays, such as the [[Eastern gray squirrel|gray squirrel]], {{lang|ga|iora glas}}.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/the-irish-for-colours-you-may-have-forgotten-lots-of-your-schooling-but-you-should-remember-the-word-bandearg-4447647-Jan2019/ |title=The Irish For: How many colours can you remember? |first=Darach |last=Ó Séaghdha |date=January 20, 2019 |work=[[TheJournal.ie]] }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gnQ9AAAAYAAJ&q=uaine+glas+distinction |title=Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Glasgow |via=[[Google Books]] }}</ref>

====Linguistic relativity====
{{main|Linguistic relativity and the color naming debate}}
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.<ref name="BerlinKay1969"/> A 2012 study<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Loreto |first1=Vittorio |last2=Mukherjee |first2=Animesh |last3=Tria |first3=Francesca |year=2012 |title=On the origin of the hierarchy of color names |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=109 |issue=18 |pages=6819–6824 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1113347109 |pmc=3344991 |pmid=22509002|bibcode=2012PNAS..109.6819L |doi-access=free }}</ref> 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.

=== Non-hue terms ===
This article mostly describes the color terms that define the ''hue'' 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 generates [[wikt:multilexemic|multilexemic]] colors. Examples of common prefix adjectives can be seen in a [[List_of_colors_(compact)|list of color names]] and are described:
* [[Brightness]]: can describe either high luminosity or high saturation, according to the [[Helmholtz–Kohlrausch effect]] and/or [[Hunt effect (color)|Hunt effect]].
* [[Lightness]]: describes both a high luminosity ''and'' low saturation
* [[Darkness]]: the opposite of lightness, or low luminosity
* [[Paleness (color)|Paleness]], ''dullness'': a measure of desaturation
* [[wikt:deep#Adjective|Deep]], [[Royal blue|Royal]]: may refer to darkness and/or high saturation; unrelated to [[color depth]].
* [[Colorfulness#Excitation purity|Pure]], ''Bold'', [[wikt:vivid|Vivid]], [[wikt:rich#Adjective|Rich]]: all referring to high saturation
* [[Pastel (color)|Pastel]]: refers to colors with high luminosity and low saturation.
* [[wikt:neon#Adjective|Neon]]: bright, in either of the word's connotations; alluding to the bright glow of [[neon lighting]].
* [[fluorescence|Fluorescent]]: very bright, sometimes also highly saturated. Named after the [[fluorescence]] effect of [[pigment]]s and [[dye]]s, which can produce a luminous glow when viewed under [[ultraviolet|ultraviolet light]], thereby appearing significantly brighter than their surroundings.<ref>{{cite magazine |first=David |last=Schoonmaker |date=May–June 2006 |title=Sunshine on a cloudy day |magazine=American Scientist |volume=94 |number=3 |page=217 |doi=10.1511/2006.59.217 |url=https://www.americanscientist.org/article/sunshine-on-a-cloudy-day}}</ref>

=== Non-dimensional terms ===
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:
* [[Gloss (optics)|Glossy]]: whether the surface reflects ''diffusely'' or ''specularly'' (sharply)
* [[Metallic color|Metallic]]: distinguishing 'gold' and 'silver' from shades of 'yellow' and 'gray', respectively
* [[Iridescence|Iridescent]]: dependence of color on viewing angle, innate to [[structural coloration]]
* [[opacity (optics)|Opacity]]: opaque (solid) vs. translucent (transparent or see-through)

=== 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.