How do you name a colour?

Question

Why is white called white or green called green? Where do colours get their names from?

Answer 1

This is from Wikipedia by the way and explains most of it I think :)

A color name is a linguistic label that humans attach to a color. Such a color is determined by a physical color and/or some other physical features like reflection or iridescence. Sometimes naming of colors is limited only to describe the feature of a physical color.

Some colors with one color names can be synthesed from determined basics colours (e.g. RGB) with more than one manners (methameria) and some color names are not spectral one (purpure, brown).

Naming of colors is dependent on a specific language. There can be a vast and complex system representing determination of a color in a given language. Generally, naming of colors involves a vocabulary and a grammatical syntax.

As the color space is continuous, naming of colors involves quantization, often by a vocabulary that specifies gradual change of one color into another. For example, let us discuss the so called HSI color space, where each color has attached its numerical values of hue, saturation and intensity, which is enough to determine any color as defined in physics, perceived by a human. Each of the values can gradually change.

Thus, gradual change of hue can be described for example by names like 'red', 'orange red', 'orange', 'yellowish orange', 'yellow', 'green yellow', 'green', 'sea green', 'cyan', 'blue', 'violet' and 'purple'. Gradual change of saturation may for example be expressed by adding to a color name labels like 'grey', 'greyish', 'moderate', 'strong' and 'vivid'. Gradual change of intensity may be expressed by adding labels like for example 'blackish', 'very dark', 'dark', 'medium', 'light' and 'very light'.

Because such a way of naming colors can lead to relatively long names, shortcuts like 'pastel' for a color that is both light and moderately saturated, or descriptive names like 'olive (color)' for relatively dark, yellowish green, are used. Naming of colors goes outside determining just a physical color. For example, 'silver' describes a glistening surface that does not modify proportions in spectrum of the reflected light or in other words does not modify hue of the light, while 'golden' describes a glistening surface that reflects mainly yellow light.

Special kinds of reflection give names to terms like 'sparkling', 'metallic', 'aluminium', i.e. green metallic, and various forms of scattering, dispersion and diffraction of light by a surface by addition of ground fish scales may add to a color name terms like opalescent or iridescent. The most exotic automotive paints will present different colors depending upon the angles of the illumination and the viewpoint, relative to the surface.

A system of naming colors can be hierarchical. For example, a coarse categorization of saturated colors may divide the colors into red, yellow, green, blue and violet. Yet, within such a category, finer categories can be determined, i. e. within green sea green and olive can be identified. A finer category may belong to two categories at once, i. e. orange is a set of colors between red and yellow, that can be quantized into red and yellow.

Much love, The Good Apple xx

Answer 2

Congrats, and that i desire you get some sleep now!!! Boy names: Matthew Lucas and Tyler Jacob lady call: Madison Nicole Are you doing 3 rooms, one for each infant? i imagine mild yellow and white is fairly for a lady's room. it would want to be fairly surprising and cheery, yet odds are she'll in some unspecified time sooner or later in her existence hate pink so it really is by no skill a sturdy theory to apply pink in something which will be round for decades. once you're doing one room for all 3 children, upload mild eco-friendly into the blend. i imagine which will be fairly lovable. sturdy success!

Answer 3

naming is completely arbitrary. language is just a made up device to sort things out into categories. you could ask the same question about cars. why is a car called a car? why is a truck called a truck? words make no sense whatsoever unless viewed in the context of their whole language.

Answer 4

Why is anything called anything?! Why is a hippopotamous not an armchair? Why is a computer not a bus? Why is a wristwatch not a pillowcase? And so on and on and on.........

Answer 5

prob old Greek language

Answer 6

dulux

Answer 7

erm, im thinking....