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Learn English Vocabulary: Colours/ Colors

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Color/colour is the characteristic of human visual perception described through color categories, with names such as red, blue, yellow, green, orange, or purple.

Colors or colours can be broken down into three basic types—primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. Categorizing by types makes it easier to understand the colors and their relationships. Using solely colors of one particular type is one way to create an easy color scheme.

Colors Vocabulary

Primary Colors

A set of primary colors is a set of pigments, colored lights, or abstract elements of a mathematical color space model that can be combined in varying amounts to produce a range or “gamut” of colors. Deriving many colours from several primaries facilitates technological and artistic applications such as painting, electronic displays, and printing. Any small set of realizable primary colours are “imperfect” in that they cannot generate all perceptible colours, but some sets of primaries can yield a far wider gamut than others.

There are 3 primary colors: red, yellow, and blue.

Learn English Vocabulary: Colours/ Colors 1

Secondary Colors

Secondary colors are colors that are created by mixing two primary colors together. In traditional color theory, there are three secondary colors: green, orange, and purple.

  • Green is created by mixing blue and yellow.
  • Orange is created by mixing red and yellow.
  • Purple is created by mixing red and blue.

These colours are considered intermediate colours, as they are not primary colours but can be used to create a wider range of colours. Secondary colours are often used in art, design, and color printing to add depth and variety to a color palette. Mixing different amounts of the primary colours used to create the secondary color can result in different variations of the secondary color.

Learn English Vocabulary: Colours/ Colors

Tertiary Colors

A tertiary color is a color made by mixing full saturation of one primary color with half saturation of another primary color and none of a third primary color, in a given color space such as RGB, CMYK or RYB.
Tertiary colors have general names, one set of names for the RGB color wheel and a different set for the RYB color wheel.

The six tertiary colors: red-violet, red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green and blue-violet.

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List of Common Color Names in English

Here is a list of some color names in English:

  • Red
  • Orange
  • Yellow
  • Green
  • Blue
  • Purple
  • Pink
  • Brown
  • Black
  • White
  • Gray
  • Lavender
  • Maroon
  • Olive
  • Aqua
  • Beige
  • Crimson
  • Jade
  • Indigo
  • Khaki
  • Magenta
  • Navy
  • Peach
  • Periwinkle
  • Raspberry
  • Scarlet
  • Teal
  • Turquoise
  • Violet
  • Gold
  • Silver
  • Bronze
  • Copper
  • Tan
  • Cyan
  • Mustard
  • Sage
  • Coral
  • Sky blue
  • Forest green
  • Burgundy
  • Rust
  • Powder blue
  • Seafoam green
  • Chartreuse
  • Lilac
  • Royal blue
  • Sunflower yellow
  • Salmon
  • Tangerine

Color Names with Examples

  • Red – The walls were painted a bold red color.
  • Orange – The sun was setting, casting an orange glow on the horizon.
  • Yellow – She picked a bouquet of yellow daffodils.
  • Green – The grass was a bright green after the rain.
  • Blue – The sky was a deep shade of blue on a clear day.
  • Purple – The grapes were a rich purple color.
  • Pink – She wore a pink dress to the party.
  • Brown – The wooden floor was a warm brown color.
  • Black – He wore a black suit to the funeral.
  • White – The snow was a pristine white color.
  • Gray – The storm clouds were a dark gray color.
  • Lavender – The lavender fields were in full bloom.
  • Maroon – The curtains were a deep maroon color.
  • Olive – The olive trees were swaying in the breeze.
  • Aqua – The pool was a bright aqua color.
  • Beige – The couch was a neutral beige color.
  • Crimson – The scarf was a rich crimson color.
  • Jade – The jewelry was made from jade.
  • Indigo – The jeans were a deep indigo color.
  • Khaki – The pants were a light khaki color.
  • Magenta – The flowers were a bright magenta color.
  • Navy – The blazer was a dark navy color.
  • Peach – The fruit was a ripe peach color.
  • Periwinkle – The bedspread was a soft periwinkle color.
  • Raspberry – The ice cream was a vibrant raspberry flavor.
  • Scarlet – The rose was a bright scarlet color.
  • Teal – The shirt was a soft teal color.
  • Turquoise – The necklace was made from turquoise stones.
  • Violet – The flowers were a delicate violet color.

Color Vocabulary | Images

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Terry Sharon

Tuesday 27th of February 2018

mutambisharon@gmail.com