Curiosities

Colors: Definitions and Names

By posted at 3:00 pm on September 10, 2012 1

Kory Stamper, one of the lexicographers responsible for Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, describes the pleasures and poetry to be found in the Third Edition’s “color definitions.” Take vermillion for example, which is listed as “a variable color averaging a vivid reddish orange that is redder, darker, and slightly stronger than chrome orange, redder and darker than golden poppy, and redder and lighter than international orange.” (Related: how colors got their names; who names colors what.)

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One Response to “Colors: Definitions and Names”

  1. Links On Colour | Lynley Stace
    at 12:54 am on January 21, 2013

    [...] Colors: Definitions and Names from The Millions [...]

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