Plum is a purple color with a brownish-gray tinge, like that shown on the right, or a reddish purple, which is a close representation of the average color of the

plum A plum is a fruit of some species in ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are called prunes. History Plums may have been one of the first fruits domesticated by humans. Three of the most abundantly cultivated species are not found ...

fruit. As a

quaternary color A tertiary color or intermediate 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 (more modern) or RYB ...

on the RYB color wheel, plum is an equal mix of the tertiary colors russet and

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

. The first recorded use of ''plum'' as a color name in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

was in 1805.

Variations of plum

Plum (Crayola)

Pale plum

At right is displayed the color pale plum, which is the pale tone of plum that is the

web color Web colors are colors used in displaying web pages on the World Wide Web, and the methods for describing and specifying those colors. Colors may be specified as an RGB triplet or in hexadecimal format (a ''hex triplet'') or according to their c ...

called ''plum''. This color is paler than the color at the head of this article and paler than the color of an actual plum.

Persian plum (prune)

Displayed at right is the color Persian plum from th
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This is the color traditionally called prune because it is a representation of the average color of

prune A prune is a dried plum, most commonly from the European plum (''Prunus domestica''). Not all plum species or varieties can be dried into prunes. A prune is the firm-fleshed fruit (plum) of '' Prunus domestica'' varieties that have a high so ...

s. ''Prune'' is the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

word for "plum", but in English the name "prune" is applied to ''dried plums''. This color is a representation of the color of cooked dried plums (prunes). Prune

The first recorded use of ''prune'' as a color name in

was in 1789.Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York:1930 McGraw-Hill p. 202; Color Sample of Prune: p. 117 Plate 47 Color Sample J8

Variations of plum

Plum (Crayola)

Pale plum

Persian plum (prune)

References

See also