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Definition: Colour |
ColourAdjective1. (photography) "color film"; "he rented a color television"; "in glorious color"; "marvelous color illustrations". Noun1. Any material used for its color. 2. A race with skin pigmentation different from the white race (especially Blacks). 3. (high energy physics) the characteristic of quarks that determines their role in the strong interaction; each flavor of quarks comes in three colors. 4. Interest and variety and intensity: "the Puritan Period was lacking in color". 5. The timbre of a musical sound; "the recording fails to capture the true color of the original music". 6. A visual attribute of things that results from the light they emit or transmit or reflect; "white is made up of many different wavelengths of light". 7. Outward or token appearance or form; "he tried to give his actions a semblance of authenticity"; "the situation soon took on a different color". 8. The appearance of objects (or light sources) described in terms of a person's perception of their hue and lightness (or brightness) and saturation. Verb1. Modify or bias; "His political ideas color his lectures". 2. Decorate with colors; "color the walls with paint in warm tones". 3. Gloss or excuse; "color a lie". 4. Distort; "My personal feelings color my judgment in this case". 5. Add color to; "The child colored the drawings"; "Fall colored the trees"; "colorize black and white film". 6. Change color, often in an undesired manner; "The shirts discolored". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "colour" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Computing | Colour |
Bible | Colour The subject of colours holds an important place in the Scriptures. White occurs as the translation of various Hebrew words. It is applied to milk (Gen. 49:12), manna (Ex. 16:31), snow (Isa. 1:18), horses (Zech. 1:8), raiment (Eccl. 9:8). Another Hebrew word so rendered is applied to marble (Esther 1:6), and a cognate word to the lily (Cant. 2:16). A different term, meaning "dazzling," is applied to the countenance (Cant. 5:10). This colour was an emblem of purity and innocence (Mark 16:5; John 20:12; Rev. 19:8, 14), of joy (Eccl. 9:8), and also of victory (Zech. 6:3; Rev. 6:2). The hangings of the tabernacle court (Ex. 27:9; 38:9), the coats, mitres, bonnets, and breeches of the priests (Ex. 39:27,28), and the dress of the high priest on the day of Atonement (Lev. 16:4,32), were white. Black, applied to the hair (Lev. 13:31; Cant. 5:11), the complexion (Cant. 1:5), and to horses (Zech. 6:2,6). The word rendered "brown" in Gen. 30:32 (R.V., "black") means properly "scorched", i.e., the colour produced by the influence of the sun's rays. "Black" in Job 30:30 means dirty, blackened by sorrow and disease. The word is applied to a mourner's robes (Jer. 8:21; 14:2), to a clouded sky (1 Kings 18:45), to night (Micah 3:6; Jer. 4:28), and to a brook rendered turbid by melted snow (Job 6:16). It is used as symbolical of evil in Zech. 6:2, 6 and Rev. 6:5. It was the emblem of mourning, affliction, calamity (Jer. 14:2; Lam. 4:8; 5:10). Red, applied to blood (2 Kings 3;22), a heifer (Num. 19:2), pottage of lentils (Gen. 25:30), a horse (Zech. 1:8), wine (Prov. 23:31), the complexion (Gen. 25:25; Cant. 5:10). This colour is symbolical of bloodshed (Zech. 6:2; Rev. 6:4; 12:3). Purple, a colour obtained from the secretion of a species of shell-fish (the Murex trunculus) which was found in the Mediterranean, and particularly on the coasts of Phoenicia and Asia Minor. The colouring matter in each separate shell-fish amounted to only a single drop, and hence the great value of this dye. Robes of this colour were worn by kings (Judg. 8:26) and high officers (Esther 8:15). They were also worn by the wealthy and luxurious (Jer. 10:9; Ezek. 27:7; Luke 16:19; Rev. 17:4). With this colour was associated the idea of royalty and majesty (Judg. 8:26; Cant. 3:10; 7:5; Dan. 5:7, 16,29). Blue. This colour was also procured from a species of shell-fish, the chelzon of the Hebrews, and the Helix ianthina of modern naturalists. The tint was emblematic of the sky, the deep dark hue of the Eastern sky. This colour was used in the same way as purple. The ribbon and fringe of the Hebrew dress were of this colour (Num. 15:38). The loops of the curtains (Ex. 26:4), the lace of the high priest's breastplate, the robe of the ephod, and the lace on his mitre, were blue (Ex. 28:28, 31, 37). Scarlet, or Crimson. In Isa. 1:18 a Hebrew word is used which denotes the worm or grub whence this dye was procured. In Gen. 38:28,30, the word so rendered means "to shine," and expresses the brilliancy of the colour. The small parasitic insects from which this dye was obtained somewhat resembled the cochineal which is found in Eastern countries. It is called by naturalists Coccus ilics. The dye was procured from the female grub alone. The only natural object to which this colour is applied in Scripture is the lips, which are likened to a scarlet thread (Cant. 4:3). Scarlet robes were worn by the rich and luxurious (2 Sam. 1:24; Prov. 31:21; Jer. 4:30. Rev. 17:4). It was also the hue of the warrior's dress (Nah. 2:3; Isa. 9:5). The Phoenicians excelled in the art of dyeing this colour (2 Chr. 2:7). These four colours--white, purple, blue, and scarlet--were used in the textures of the tabernacle curtains (Ex. 26:1, 31, 36), and also in the high priest's ephod, girdle, and breastplate (Ex. 28:5, 6, 8, 15). Scarlet thread is mentioned in connection with the rites of cleansing the leper (Lev. 14:4, 6, 51) and of burning the red heifer (Num. 19:6). It was a crimson thread that Rahab was to bind on her window as a sign that she was to be saved alive (Josh. 2:18; 6:25) when the city of Jericho was taken. Vermilion, the red sulphuret of mercury, or cinnabar; a colour used for drawing the figures of idols on the walls of temples (Ezek. 23:14), or for decorating the walls and beams of houses (Jer. 22:14). Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary. |
Literature | Colour (See Rank .) Colour Colours. A man of colour. A negro, or, more strictly speaking, one with negro blood. (See Colours .) "There are three great classes: (1) the pure whites; (2) the people of colour; (3) negroes and mulattoes."- Edwards: St. Domingo, i. Colour (verb). To colour up, to turn red in the face; to blush. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Medicine | A)the perceived colour:an aspect of visual perception by which an observer may distinguish differences between two fields of view of the same size, shape and structure, as may be caused by differences in the spectral composition of the radiation concerned in the observation; b)the psychophysical colour:a characteristic of a visible radiation by which an observer may distinguish differences between two fields of view of the same size, shape and structure, as may be caused by differences in the spectral composition of the radiation concerned in the observation. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the sensation caused by light as it interacts with the eye, brain, and our experience. The perception of colour is also greatly influenced by nearby colours in the visual scene. The term color is also used for the property of objects that gives rise to these sensations.
- Other meanings: Color (disambiguation).
color wavelength interval frequency interval red ~ 625-740 nm ~ 480-405 THz orange ~ 590-625 nm ~ 510-480 THz yellow ~ 565-590 nm ~ 530-510 THz green ~ 520-565 nm ~ 580-530 THz cyan ~ 500-520 nm ~ 600-580 THz blue ~ 450-500 nm ~ 670-600 THz indigo ~ 430-450 nm ~ 700-670 THz violet ~ 380-430 nm ~ 790-700 THz (The frequencies are approximations and given in terahertz (THz). The wavelengths, valid in vacuum, are given in nanometers (nm). A list of other objects of similar size is available. )
The table above should not be interpreted as a definite list--the pure spectral colors form a continuous spectrum, and how it is divided into distinct colors is a matter of taste and culture. Similarly, the intensity of a spectral color may alter its perception considerably; for example, a low-intensity orange-yellow is brown, and a low-intensity yellow-green is olive-green.
Most colors are not pure spectral; these are created from mixtures of various wavelengths and intensities of light. Examples of non-spectral colors are the achromatic colors (black, gray and white), pastel (desaturated) colors such as pink or tan, and magenta.
Color Vision
Although Aristotle and other ancient scientists speculated on the nature of light and color vision, it was not until Newton that light was correctly identified as the source of the color sensation. Goethe studied the theory of colors, and in 1801 Thomas Young proposed his trichromatic theory which was later refined by Hermann von Helmholtz. That theory was confirmed in the 1960s and will be described below.
The human eye contains three different types of color receptor cells, or cones. The first ("red") are most responsive to wavelengths around 565 nm, the second ("green") to those around 535 nm, and the third ("blue") to those around 445 nm. The sensitivity curves of the cones are roughly bell-shaped and overlap considerably. The incoming signal spectrum is thus reduced by the eye to three values, representing the intensity of the response of each of these types of color receptors.
Because of the overlap between the sensitivity ranges, not all combinations of stimuli are actually possible. For instance, it is not possible to only stimulate the "green" cone: at least one of the other cones will always be stimulated to some degree at the same time. The set of all combinations of stimuli that are possible make up the human color space.
One can picture this space as a region in three-dimensional Euclidean space if one identifies the X variable with the "red" stimulus, Y with "green" and Z with "blue". The origin (X,Y,Z) = (0,0,0) corresponds to black, and the point (X,Y,Z) = (1,1,1), i.e. full response of all three receptors, corresponds to white. The human color space is a region with these two points as corners, somewhat shaped like a pointy ellipsoid. The greys are located along a straight line connecting the two corners. The most saturated colors are located at the outer rim of the region, with brighter colors farther removed from the origin.
It has been estimated that humans can distinguish roughly 10 million different colors, although the identification of a specific color is highly subjective, since even the eyes of a single individual perceive colors slightly differently. If one or more types of a person's color-sensing cones isn't responding correctly to incoming light, that person has a smaller color space and is said to be color blind. Other animals may have more than three different color receptors (some birds and reptiles) or fewer (most mammals). There is an interesting phenomenon which occurs when an artist uses a limited color palette: the eye tends to compensate by seeing any grey or neutral color as the color which is missing from the color wheel. E.g.: in a limited palette consisting of red, yellow, black, and white, a mixture of yellow and black will appear as a variety of green, a mixture of red and black will appear as a variety of purple, and pure grey will appear bluish.
Different cultures have different terms for colours, and may also assign some colour names to slightly different parts of the spectrum, or have a different colour ontology: for instance, the Japanese colour aoi can be interpreted as meaning something between the Western colour terms of "blue" and "green": green is regarded as a shade of aoi.
Reproduction of color
Two different light spectra which have the same effect on the three color receptors will be perceived as the same color. This is exemplified by the color cyan: cyan is a pure spectral color whose wavelength is located just between the responsitivity peaks of the "green" and "blue" cones. A cyan color experience can thus also be generated by an equal mixture of those two peak wavelengths, as long as these don't stimulate the red receptor. The human eye (as opposed to the bird's eye or the spectroscopist) then won't be able to tell the difference between pure spectral cyan and green-blue mixed cyan.
In the same way, most human color perceptions can be generated by a mixture of three colors called primaries. This is used to reproduce color scenes in photogaphy, printing, television, and other media.
Transmissive media
Media that transmit light (such as television) use additive color mixing with primary colors of red, green, and blue which are close to the wavelengths that generate peak responses of the eye's color receptors. This is called "RGB" color space. Mixtures of light of these primary colors cover a large part of the human color space and thus produce a large part of human color experiences. This is why color television sets or color computer monitors need only produce mixtures of red, green and blue light.
Other primary colors could in principle be used, but with red, green and blue the largest portion of the human color space can be captured. Unfortunately there is no exact consensus as to what frequency the red, green, and blue lights should be, so the same RGB values can give rise to slightly different colors on different screens.
Note that the color experience of a given light mixture may vary with absolute luminosity, due to the fact that both rods and cones are active at once in the eye, with each having different color curves, and rods taking over gradually from cones as the brightness of the scene is reduced. This effect leads to a change in color rendition with absolute illumination levels that can be summarised in the "Kruithof curve".
Reflective media
When producing a color print or painting a surface, the applied paint changes the surface; if the surface is then illuminated with white light (which consists of equal intensities of all visible wavelengths), the reflected light will have a spectrum corresponding to the desired color.
It is possible to achieve a large range of colors seen by humans by combining cyan, magenta, and yellow transparent dyes/inks on a white substrate. These are the subtractive primary colors. Often a fourth black is added to improve reproduction of some dark colors. This is called "CMY" or "CMYK" color space.
The cyan ink will reflect all but the red light, the yellow ink will reflect all but the blue light and the magenta ink will reflect all but the green light. This is because cyan light is an equal mixture of green and blue, yellow is an equal mixture of red and green, and magenta light is an equal mixture of red and blue.
HSV color space
The RGB and CMYK color spaces are most useful for technical reproduction of color scenes. A color space that more closely models the human experience is the HSV color space which arranges colors in a three-dimensional cone, somewhat similar to the human color space discussed above. The tip of the cone corresponds to black. If the pure spectral colors are extended by mixtures of red and blue, they can be arranged in a circle or "color wheel" (which was already known to Newton), the mouth of the cone. The position of a color on this circle is its hue. In the HSV space, every color is specified by its hue, saturation (distance from the circle's center) and value (luminosity).
The HSV color space was already used by 19th century physiologist Ewald Hering.
Color constancy
The trichromatric theory discussed above is strictly true only if the whole scene seen by the eye is of one and the same color, which of course is unrealistic. In reality, the brain compares the various colors in a scene, in order to eliminate the effects of the illumination. If a scene is illuminated with one light, and then with another, its colors will nevertheless appear constant to us. This was discovered by Edwin Land in the 1970s and lead to his retinex theory of color constancy.
Structural color
Structural colour is a property of some surfaces that are scored with fine parallel lines or formed of many thin parallel layers to make a diffraction grating. The grating absorbs some wavelengths more than others, causing white light to be reflected as colored light. Variations in the pattern's spacing often give rise to an iridescent effect, as seen in peacock feathers, films of oil, and mother of pearl.
Associations
Different colors are often associated with different emotional states, values or groups. These associations can vary among cultures and will be explained on the pages describing the individual colors.
see also: National colours
See also
- Metamerism
- Color temperature
- Political parties and colors
References
- The International Commission on Illumination defines colors and color spaces.
- Kruithof curve citation
- Article by technical lighting manufacturer on rod/cone vision, with cites to literature
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Color."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Television is a telecommunication system for broadcasting and receiving moving pictures and sound over a distance. The term has come to refer to all the aspects of television programming and transmission as well.
History
A semi-mechanical analogue television system was first demonstrated in London in February 1924 by John Logie Baird and a moving picture by Baird on October 30 1925. The first long distance public television broadcast was from Washington, DC to New York City and occurred on April 7, 1927. The image shown was of then Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover. A fully electronic system was demonstrated by Philo Taylor Farnsworth in the autumn of 1927. The first analogue service was WGY, Schenectady, New York inaugurated on May 11 1928. CBS's New York City station began broadcasting the first regular seven days a week television schedule in the U. S. on July 21, 1931. The first broadcast included Mayor James J. Walker, Kate Smith, and George Gershwin. The first all-electronic television service was started in Los Angeles, CA by Don Lee Broadcasting. Their start date was December 23, 1931 on W6XAO - later KTSL. Los Angeles was the only major U. S. city that avoided the false start with mechanical television.
The first live transcontinental television broadcast took place in San Francisco, California from the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference on September 4, 1955.
Programming is broadcast on television stations (sometimes called channels). At first, terrestrial broadcasting was the only way television could be distributed. Because bandwidth was limited, government regulation was normal. In the US, the Federal Communications Commission allowed stations to broadcast advertisements, but insisted on public service programming commitments as a requirement for a license. By contrast, the United Kingdom chose a different route, imposing a television licence fee (effectively a tax) to fund the BBC, which had public service as part of its Crown Charter. Development of cable and satellite means of distribution in the 1970s pushed businessmen to target channels towards a certain audience, and enabled the rise of subscription-based television channels, such as HBO and Sky. Practically every country with the technological capability has developed at least one television channel.
TV standards
The standard adopted by the US was called NTSC, which stood for National Television Standards Committee. NTSC is the television standard in the US, Canada, and Japan.
Germany developed the television standard called PAL, which stood for Phase Alternating Line, and introduced it in 1967. PAL is the television standard in the United Kingdom, much of Europe, Africa, Australia, and some parts of South America.
The French developed in 1967 the television standard called SECAM, Sequentiel Couleur avec Mémoire, French for "sequential color with memory". The SECAM standard was used mostly in France and Eastern European "Warsaw Pact" countries.
There are various kinds of television broadcast systems:
- Terrestrial television
- NTSC, PAL, PAL2 and SECAM analog signaling
- Satellite television using standard digital signaling
- Cable television
- both analog and digital systems are available.
- MMDS (Wireless cable)
TV aspect ratio
All of these early TV systems shared the same aspect ratio of 4:3, which was determined by the Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) manufacturing technology of the time -- today's CRT technology allows the manufacture of wider tubes. However, due to the negative heavy metal health effects associated with disposal of CRTs in landfills and the space-saving attributes of flat screen technologies that lack the aspect ratio limitations of CRTs, CRTs are becoming obsolete.
The switch-over to DTV systems co-incides with a change in picture format from a aspect ratio of 4:3 (1.33:1) to an aspect ratio of 16:9 (1.78:1). This enables TV to get closer to the aspect ratio of movies, which range from 1.85:1 to 2.35:1. The 16:9 format was first introduced for "widescreen" video and DVDs. The current technical implementation of 16:9 uses the same pixel raster as 4:3 video, in a full screen anamorphic format.
There is no technical reason for this aspect ratio change to be coupled with the introduction of DTV, but it has been decided to synchronize these changes for marketing reasons.
Aspect ratio incompatibility
A wide image on a conventional screen can be shown:
A conventional image on a wide screen can be shown:
- with "letterbox" black stripes at the top and bottom
- with the extreme left and right of the image falling off (or in "pan and scan", parts selected by an operator)
- with the image horizontally compressed
A common compromise is to shoot or create material at an aspect ratio of 14:9, and to lose some image at each side for 4:3 presentation, and some image at top and bottom for 16:9 presentation.
- with black parts at the left and right
- with the top and bottom of the image falling off
- with the image horizontally expanded
Horizontal expansion has advantages in situations in which several people are watching the same set; it compensates for watching at an oblique angle.
New developments
- Digital television (DTV)
- High Definition TV (HDTV)
- Pay Per View
- Web tv
- programming on-demand.
TV sets
The earliest television sets were radios with the addition of a television device consisting of a neon tube with a mechanically spinning disk (the Nipkow disk, invented by Paul Gottlieb Nipkow) that produced a red postage-stamp size image . The first publicly broadcast electronic service was in Germany in March 1935. It had 180 lines of resolution and was only available in 22 public viewing rooms. One of the first major broadcasts involved the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The Germans had a 441 line system in the fall of 1937. (Source: Early Electronic TV)
Television usage skyrocketed after World War II with war-related technological advances and additional disposable income. (1930s TV receivers cost the equivalent of $7000 today (2001) and had little available programming.)
Television in its original and still most popular form involves sending images and sound over radio waves in the VHF and UHF bands, which are received by a receiver (a television set). In this sense, it is an extension of radio.
Color television became available on December 30, 1953, backed by the CBS network. The government approved the color broadcast system proposed by CBS, but when RCA came up with a system that made it possible to view color broadcasts in black and white on unmodified old black and white TV sets, CBS dropped their own proposal and used the new one.
Starting in the 1990s, modern television sets diverged into three different trends:
There are many kinds of video monitors used in modern TV sets. The most common are direct view CRTs for up to 40" (4:3) and 46" (16:9) diagonally. Most big screen TVs (up to over 100") use projection technology. Three types of projection systems are used in projection TVs: CRT based, LCD based and reflective imaging chip based. Modern advances have brought flat screens to TV that use active matrix LCD or plasma display technology. Flat panel displays are as little as 4" thick and can be hung on a wall like a picture. They are extremely attractive and space-saving but they remain expensive.
- standalone TV sets;
- integrated systems with DVD players and/or VHS VCR built into the TV set itself (mostly for small size TV with up to 17" screen, the main idea is to have a complete portable system);
- component systems with separate big screen video monitor, tuner, audio system which the owner connects the pieces together as a high-end home theater system. This approach appeals to videophiles who prefer components which can be upgraded separately.
Nowadays some TVs include a port to connect peripherals to it or to connect the set to an A/V home network (HAVI), like LG RZ-17LZ10 that includes a USB port, where one can connect a mouse, keyboard and so on ( very interesting for WebTV).
Even for simple video, there are five standard ways to connect a device. These are as follows:
- Component Video- three separate connectors, with one brightness channel and two color channels, and is usually referred to as Y, B-Y, R-Y or Y Pr Pb. This provides for high quality pictures and is usually used inside professional studios. However, it is being used more in home theater for DVDs and high end sources. Audio is not carried on this cable.
- SCART- A large 21 pin connector that may carry Composite video, S-Video or for better quality, separate red, green and blue (RGB) signals and two-channel sound, along with a number of control signals. This system is standard in Europe but rarely found elsewhere.
- S-Video- two separate channels, one carry brightness, the other carrying color. Also referred to as Y/C video. Provides most of the benefit of component video, with slightly less color fidelity. Use started in the 1980s for S-VHS, Hi-8 and early DVD players to relay high quality video. Audio is not carried on this cable.
- Composite video- The most common form of connecting external devices, putting all the video information into one stream. Most televisions provide this option with a yellow RCA cable. Audio is not carried on this cable.
- Coaxial or RF (coaxial cable)- All audio channels and picture components are transmitted through one wire and modulated on a radio frequency. Most TVs manufactured during the past 15-20 years accept coaxial connection, and the video is typically "tuned" on channel 3 or 4.
Advertising
From the earliest days of the medium, television has been used as a vehicle for advertising. Since their inception in the USA in the late 1940s, TV commercialss have become far and away the most effective, most pervasive, and most popular method of selling products of all sorts. US advertising rates are determined primarily by Nielsen Ratings
US networks
In the US, television networks produce prime-time programs for their affiliate stations to air between 8pm and 11pm. (7pm and 10pm in the Central and Mountain time zones). Most stations have their own programming off the prime time.
Colloquial names
- Telly
- The Tube/Boob Tube
- The Goggle Box
- The Cyclops
Related articles
- List of 'years in television'
- Lists of television channels
- List of television programs
- List of television commercials
- List of television personalities
- List of television series
- Animation and Animated series
- Nielsen Ratings
- Home appliances
- Reality TV show
- Television network
- Video
- Voyager Golden Record
- V-chip
- Wasteland Speech
- DVB
External Links
See also Charles Francis Jenkins.
Further Reading
TV as social pathogen, opiate, mass mind control, etc
Alternate use of the term: Television (band)
- Marie Winn The Plug-in Drug
- Neil Postman Amusing Ourselves to Death
- Terence McKenna Food of the Gods
- Joyce Nelson The Perfect Machine
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Television."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
| col. | English | Colour | Language |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: ColourSynonyms: color (n), coloring (n), coloring material (n), colouring (n), colouring material (n), people of color (n), people of colour (n), semblance (n), vividness (n), color in (v), colorise (v), colorize (v), colour in (v), colourise (v), colourize (v), discolor (v), discolour (v), distort (v), emblazon (v), gloss (v). (additional references) |
| Antonyms: black-and-white (adj), colorlessness (n), discolor (v). (additional references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I'll never let the colour of your Dad come between us. (East Is East; writing credit: Ayub Khan-Din) What colour is it (That '80s Show; writing credit: Irit Boger) If it's a miracle Colour Sergeant, it's a short chamber Boxer Henry, point 4-5 caliber miracle (Zulu; writing credit: John Prebble;) The dog's got the same colour hair as you. (Big Brother; writing credit: Joyce Carol Oates; Joyce Eliason) It does add a bit of colour, doesn't it. Oh, I know, you don't like the kangaroo (Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl; writing credit: Tim Brooke-Taylor; Graham Chapman) | |
Lyrics | Choose my colour (Do You Really Want to Hurt Me; performing artist: Culture Club) But nothing hides the colour of the lights that shine (Steppin' Out; performing artist: Joe Jackson) | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Colour of Blood (1973) Oh in Colour (1970) Colour Me Pop (1968) Trooping the Colour (1956) The Colour of Life (1955) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
References |
| ||
Books |
| ||
Periodicals |
| ||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
| ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Group of the 71st Regiment with colour sergeant. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |  |
| "Spring colour" by Jillian Balfour Commentary: "Simply a bee on a flower." | "Colour of autumn" by Uschi Hering Commentary: "Red wine leaf." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
John Locke | 1690 | Again, if he would give his nuts for a piece of metal, pleased with its colour; or exchange his sheep for shells, or wool for a sparkling pebble or a diamond, and keep those by him all his life he invaded not the right of others, he might heap up as much of these durable things as he pleased; the exceeding of the bounds of his just property not lying in the largeness of his possession, but the perishing of any thing uselesly in it. (Second Treatise of Government) |
United Nations | 1948 | Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Three Voices | Carroll, Lewis | While, like broad waves of golden grain, Or sunlit hues on cloistered pane, His colour came and went again |
A Christmas Carol | Dickens, Charles | His colour changed though, when, without a pause, it came on through the heavy door, and passed into the room before his eyes |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | His face was of the colour of his pantaloons |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | But he had not told Fleming to colour them those colours |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Thomas Jefferson | 1801-1809 | The first difference which strikes us is that of colour. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Colour" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 97.58% of the time. "Colour" is used about 11,034 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 97.58% | 10,768 | 862 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 1.72% | 190 | 22,288 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 0.62% | 69 | 40,280 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.05% | 6 | 143,867 |
| Total | 100.00% | 11,034 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Country | Name | Country | Name |
| Japan | Dainichiseika Colour & Chemicals Mfg. Co., Ltd. | United Kingdom | European Colour Plc |
| USA | Colour Imaging, Inc. | ||
| (more examples...) |
Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.
Expressions using "colour": achromatic colour ♦ additive mixture of colour stimuli ♦ aperture colour ♦ aposematic colour ♦ automatic colour gain control ♦ bad colour ♦ be off colour ♦ blond colour ♦ body colour ♦ change colour ♦ changing colour ♦ changing of colour ♦ chromatic colour ♦ CIE 1964 uniform colour space ♦ colour aberration ♦ colour additive ♦ colour axis ♦ colour bar ♦ colour bleeding ♦ colour blend ♦ colour blind ♦ colour blindness ♦ colour chart ♦ colour code ♦ colour coding ♦ colour coding of traffic flow information ♦ colour constancy ♦ colour creation ♦ colour depth ♦ colour development ♦ colour film ♦ colour filter ♦ colour forming development ♦ colour gamut ♦ colour guard ♦ colour imagery ♦ colour in ♦ colour key ♦ colour killer ♦ colour line ♦ colour man ♦ colour masking ♦ Colour Me Beautiful ♦ colour mode ♦ colour model ♦ colour names amnesia ♦ colour normalisation ♦ colour normalization ♦ colour of law ♦ colour of the hair ♦ colour palette ♦ colour perception requirement ♦ colour photo ♦ colour photograph ♦ colour photography ♦ colour prejudice ♦ colour print ♦ colour printer ♦ colour printing ♦ colour problem ♦ colour range ♦ colour red ♦ colour refraction ♦ colour registration ♦ colour rinse ♦ colour scheme ♦ colour sergeant ♦ colour set ♦ colour shade ♦ colour strength ♦ colour supplement ♦ colour table ♦ colour television ♦ colour television set ♦ colour television system ♦ colour television tube ♦ colour temperature meter ♦ colour test ♦ colour that rests the eyes ♦ colour tube ♦ colour TV ♦ colour tv set ♦ colour TV tube ♦ colour up ♦ colour vision ♦ colour vision deficiency ♦ colour wash ♦ colour well ♦ corn colour ♦ correlated colour temperature ♦ dead colour ♦ diffuse colour ♦ display of colour ♦ dithered colour ♦ dull colour ♦ dust colour ♦ fair colour ♦ fast colour ♦ feel off colour ♦ food colour ♦ four colour map theorem. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "colour": colour-balance, colour-balanced, colour-balancing, colour-bar, colour-based, colour-blending, colour-blind, colour-blindness, colour-box, colour-change, colour-changing, colour-choice, colour-clashes, colour-coated, colour-code, colour-coded, colour-codes, colour-coding, colour-conscious, colour-contrasts, colour-coordinated, colour-co-ordinated, colour-crazed, colour-difference, colour-display, colour-effects, colour-encrusted, colour-enhancer, colour-enhancing, colour-fast, colour-feeding, colour-field, colour-filled, colour-films, colour-filter, colour-fixed, colour-form, colour-forms, colour-illustrated, colour-insensitive, colour-intensity, colour-interactive, colour-keyed, colour-killing, colour-mapping, colour-mark, colour-marked, colour-marker, colour-markers, colour-marking, colour-marks, colour-mass, colour-mixing, colour-pattern, colour-photographed, colour-plate, colour-point, colour-pointed, colour-print, colour-printed, colour-printing, colour-process, colour-ramped, colour-ringed, colour-rinsed, colour-rubbed, colour-scheme, colour-sensitive, colour-sergeant, colour-shaded, colour-shy, colour-sided, colour-similar, colour-similarity, colour-soaked, colour-spectrum, colour-steel, colour-supplement-magnetic, colour-talk, colour-themed, colour-tint, colour-treated, colour-up, colour-video, colour-wash, colour-washed, colour-washes, colour-washing, colour-waves, colour-wise, colour-word, colour-words, colour-word-users. | |
Ending with "colour": bi-colour, false-colour, four-colour, full-colour, multi-colour, off-colour, single-colour, tone-colour, tri-colour, two-colour, water-colour. | |
Containing "colour": all-colour film, four-colour glossies, four-colour printing, four-colour process, snuff snuff-brown snuff-color snuff-colour snuff-colored snuff-coloured mummy-brown chukker-brown, three-colour process, water-colour painter. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "colour"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | kleur (dye, tint). (various references) | |
Albanian | ngjyrë (color, dye, hue, paint, tint). (various references) | |
Arabic | مظهر خارجي (appearance, color, face, front, likeness, outside, physiognomy, semblance, show), لون محلي (color), لون (color, dapple, paint, shade, stain, suffuse, tinge, tint, variegate), وجهة نظر (angle, color, dogmatism, estimation, mind, opinion, perspective, point of view, sentiment, slant, standpoint, viewpoint), تورد البشرة (color), صبغ (color, dye, dyestuff, imbue, pigment, pigmentation, tincture), صباغ (color, dyer, dyestuff, stain), اللون (color, course), راية (banner, color, ensign, flag, maniple, rag, standard, waft), شوه (assassinate, blemish, color, deface, defile, deform, denigrate, distort, falsify, garble, harm, maim, mangle, mar, misrepresent, mutilate, pervert, queer, skew, slant, slur, spoil, tinker, torment, torture, twist, warp, wrench), بشرة (color, complexion, cuticle, epidermis, outer skin, skin). (various references) | |
Basque | kolore. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | окраска (color, coloration, colouration, tint), изопачавам (become distorted, bend, color, contort, corrupt, deform, distort, falsify, mangle, mutilate, pervert, torture, travesty, turn about, twist), индивидуалност (color, individuality, personality, self-hood, thisness), пигментирам (color, pigment), поруменявам (blush, color, flush), претекст (alibi, color, come off, excuse, peg, plea, pretence, pretense, pretext, put off, salvo, stalking horse, subterfuge), багра (color, suffusion, tinge, tint, tone), добивам цвят (color), обагрям (become purple, color, dye, empurple, imbrue, imbue, incarnadine, mantle, parboil, pigment, purple, tint), украсявам (adorn, array, color, deck, decorate, dress, embellish, embroider, enchase, enrich, flatter, garnish, glorify, grace, lard, ornament, prank, set, titivate, trim), оцветявам (color, illuminate, imbrue, mottle, paint, pigment, stain, tincture, tint), колорит (color, coloring, colouring, race), краска (color), цвят (bloom, blossom, blow, color, coloring, colouring, flower, hue, inflorescence, pick, suit, tint, tone), руменина (blush, color, flush, glow, high color, redness, suffusion), следа от злато (color), боядисвам (color, decorate, dip, engrain, paint, wash). (various references) | |
Chinese | 颜色 (Color, colors, colours, hue). (various references) | |
Czech | barva (color, dye, hue, paint, suit). (various references) | |
Danish | farve (dye, paint, tint), kulør (dye). (various references) | |
Dutch | kleuren (blush, color, paint), verven (color, dye, paint, tint), kleur (dye, emblem, red). (various references) | |
Esperanto | koloro (color, dye), kolorigi (color, paint). (various references) | |
Faeroese | litur (dye, liter, litre, paint). (various references) | |
Finnish | väri (colouring, dye, hue, paint, suit, tint). (various references) | |
French | couleur (color), colorier. (various references) | |
German | farbe (color, dye, hue, ink, paint, shade, suit, tint), kolorieren (color, wash), färben (bias, color, dye, dyeing, paint, run, slant, tinge, tint, to colour). (various references) | |
Greek | χρώμα (color, dye, paint, pigment). (various references) | |
Hawaiian | ngjyrë (dye). (various references) | |
Hebrew | לצבוע (color, paint, tincture, tinge, tint), גון (color, complexion, hue, nuance, shade, timbre, tinge, tint, tone), צביון (character, color, form, nature, tone), צבע (color, dye, hue, paint, tincture, tint). (various references) | |
Hungarian | szín (color, complexion, drab, dye, face, high colour, hovel, lean-to, pure, scene, scene of action, setting, tint). (various references) | |
Icelandic | litur (dye). (various references) | |
Indonesian | warna (hue, tinge, tint). (various references) | |
Irish | snua (dye), lí (dye), dath (color, dye). (various references) | |
Italian | colore (color, dye, hue, paint, pigment, tint), tinta (color, dye, paint, shade, tint), colorire (color, stain, tint). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 色彩 (hue, tints), 色. (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | しきさい (hue, tints), いろつや (colour and lustre, complexion), いろ (lust, sensuality), カラー (collar, color). (various references) | |
Korean | 군기 (Color, colors, colours). (various references) | |
Lombard | tinta (dye). (various references) | |
Malay | warna (dye). (various references) | |
Manx | daahghey (paint, painting, tincture), daah (colouration, dye, hue, paint, pigment, scorch, singe, stain, suit, tincture), daaghey (colouration, dye, dyeing, embroidery, stain), cur daah er (embellish, paint), cur crackan er (surface), cullyral (tinge), cullyr (dye, hue), brattagh (banner, ensign, flag). (various references) | |
Norwegian | farge (dye, hue). (various references) | |
Occitan | color. (various references) | |
Papiamen | koló (dye). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | olourcay.(various references) | |
Polish | kolorować (paint), kolor (dye), farbować (paint). (various references) | |
Portuguese | cor (color, dye, hue, paint, tinge, turn-up), colorir (color, illuminate, variegate). (various references) | |
Romanian | culoare (color, colouring, dye, flush, hue, relief, straight, tincture, tinge, tint), colora (blush, color, dye, exaggerate, flush, paint, stain, tincture, tinge, tint). (various references) | |
Russian | раскрасить (color, paint), раскрашивать (color, pencil), цвет (bloom, blossom, blow, color, dye, flower, hue), тон (color, sound, tinge, tint, tone, tune), краска (color, dye, mascara, paint, tint), красить (color, dye, paint, stain), оттенок (color, contrast, nuance, savor, savour, shade, shade of, tincture, tinge, tint, tone, touch, undertone), окрашиваться (color), окрашивать (color, paint the), зардеться (color), покраснеть (color), подкрасить (color, touch up), пигмент (color, colourant, pigment). (various references) | |
Scottish | dath (dye). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | obojiti (color, paint, stain, tincture, tinge), obojenost (color, coloration, coloring, colouring), kolor (color), boja (color, dye, hue, marking, paint, pigment, stain, suit, tincture, tint). (various references) | |
Spanish | color (color, dye, flush, hue, tail, tint), colorear (color, gloss over, varnish), coloracion (tint). (various references) | |
Sranan | kloru (dye). (various references) | |
Swahili | rangi (dye). (various references) | |
Swedish | färg (color, coloring, colouring, complexion, dye, hue, ink, paint, shade, suit, timbre), kulör (color), färga (color, dye, paint, stain, tint). (various references) | |
Tagalog | kúlay (dye). (various references) | |
Thai | สีน้ำมัน (oil color, oil colour, oil paint). (various references) | |
Turkish | renk (color, coloring, colouring, complexion, dye, flush, hue, tincture, tint). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | рум'янець (bloom, color, flush, glow, ruddiness), червоніти (blush, color, crimson, mantle, overflush), фаррбувати, фарба (acrylic, color, dipper, dye, paint, suffusion, tincture, tint), колір (color, dye, hue), забарвлювати (color, hue), забарвлення (color, coloration, coloring, colouration, colouring, dye), прикрашати (adorn, apparel, beautify, bedeck, bespread, brighten, caparison, color, deck, decorate, dress, dress out, embellish, embroider, flatter, garnish, gloss over, grace, needle, ornament, ornamentalize, prettify, set forth, smug, sugar coat, trim, trim up, varnish). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | có thịt, chịu thua kiên quyết bênh vực quan điểm của mình, kiên quyết không chịu lui, đầu hang, bệch bạc đáng ngờ, bóp méo, gọi nhập ngũ tô điểm thêm, không tốt lắm chưa đủ, khó ở không đúng màu, đáng nghi ngại, kiên quyết đuổi theo đến cùng vẽ màu tối, vẻ (aspect, cast, colouring, manner, note, spice, tang), làm sai sự thật tô màu sặc sỡ, lại có sắc mặt, màu, màu cờ, sắc (acute, keen, quick, sharp-edged), sắc thái (colouring, nuance, shading), tòng quân hạ cờ, thuốc màu nghệ thuật vẽ màu nước da, khó chịu (accursed, accurst, annoyed, beastly, devil, disagreeable, displeasing, distasteful, incommodious, nasty, noisome, obnoxious, obtrusive, plaguesome, queer, tiresome, unacceptable, unpleasant, unpleasing, vile, vinegar). (various references) | |
Welsh | lliw (dye, hue). (various references) | |
Zulu | umbala (dye). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Old English | 450-1100 | bleo. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Proverbs Chapter 23, Verse 31 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Mh mequskesqe oinw alla omileite anqrwpoiV dikaioiV kai omileite en peripatoiV ean gar eiV taV fialaV kai ta pothria dwV touV ofqalmouV sou usteron peripathseiV gumnoteroV uperou |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Ne intuearis vinum quando flavescit cum splenduerit in vitro color eius ingreditur blande |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | Ne beholde thou the win, whan it floureth, whan shal shine in the verr the colour of it. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | Keep your eyes from looking on the wine when it is red, when its colour is bright in the cup, when it goes smoothly down: |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Proverbs Chapter 23, Verse 31 |
| Cebuano | Dili ka magtan-aw sa vino kong kini magapula, Kong kini magapangidlap sulod sa copa, Sa diha nga kini magaagay nga mahapsay: |
| Croatian | Ne gledaj na vino kad rujno iskri, kad se u èaši svjetlucavo prelijeva: pije se tako glatko, |
| Danish | Se ikke til Vinen, hvor rød den er, hvorledes den perler i Bægeret; den glider så glat, |
| Dutch | Zie den wijn niet aan, als hij zich rood vertoont, als hij in den beker zijn verve geeft, als hij recht opgaat; |
| Finnish | Älä katsele viiniä, kuinka se punoittaa, kuinka se maljassa hohtaa ja helposti valahtaa alas. |
| French | Ne regarde pas le vin qui paraît d`un beau rouge, Qui fait des perles dans la coupe, Et qui coule aisément. |
| German | Siehe den Wein nicht an, daß er so rot ist und im Glase so schön steht. Er geht glatt ein; |
| Hungarian | Ne nézd a bort, mily veres színt játszik, mint mutatja a pohárban az õ csillogását; könnyen alá csuszamlik, |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Janganlah membiarkan anggur menggodamu, sekalipun warnanya sangat menarik dan nampaknya berkilauan dalam gelas serta mengalir masuk dengan nikmat ke dalam tenggorokan. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Jangan engkau pandang akan air anggur apabila merah rupanya, apabila ia berkilat dalam piala serta buihnya naik ke atas. |
| Maori | Kaua e titiro ki te waina i te mea e whero ana, ina puta tona kara i roto i te kapu, ina mania tona heke. |
| Norwegian | Se ikke til vinen, hvor rød den er, hvorledes den perler i begeret, hvor lett den går ned! |
| Portuguese | Não olhes para o vinho quando se mostra vermelho, quando resplandece no copo e |
