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, ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are often called prunes, though in the United States they may be labeled as 'dried plums', especially during the 21st century. Plums are ...

fruit. As a

quaternary color A secondary color is a color made by mixing two primary colors of a given color model in even proportions. Combining two secondary colors in the same manner produces a tertiary color. Secondary colors are special in traditional color theory, ...

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 ro ...

. The first recorded use of ''plum'' as a color name in English 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 most often refers to: * Spider web, a silken structure created by the animal * World Wide Web or the Web, an Internet-based hypertext system Web, WEB, or the Web may also refer to: Computing * WEB, a literate programming system created by D ...

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

Plum (RYB)

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'') tree. Not all plum species or varieties can be dried into prunes. Use of the term ''prune'' for fresh plums is obsolete except when applied to varieties of ...

s. ''Prune'' is the French 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 English 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

Plum (RYB)

Persian plum (prune)

References

See also