Desert sand is a very light and very weakly saturated reddish yellow colour which corresponds specifically to the coloration of

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is usually defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural ...

. It may also be regarded as a deep tone of

beige Beige ( ) is variously described as a pale sandy fawn color, a grayish tan, a light-grayish yellowish brown, or a pale to grayish yellow. It takes its name from French, where the word originally meant natural wool that has been neither ble ...

. Desert sand was used by General Motors, along with "

rosewood Rosewood is any of a number of richly hued hardwoods, often brownish with darker veining, but found in other colours. It is hard, tough, strong, and dense. True rosewoods come from trees of the genus '' Dalbergia'', but other woods are often ca ...

", as a paint color for their early Cadillacs. In 1998, ''desert sand'' was made into a

Crayola Crayola LLC, formerly the Binney & Smith Company, is an American manufacturing and retail company specializing in list of art media, art supplies. It is known for its brand ''Crayola'' and best known for its crayons. The company is headquartered ...

crayon colour. Sossusvlei Dune Namib Desert Namibia Luca Galuzzi 2004

The color shown matches the palest of the three colors in the 3-color

Desert Camouflage Uniform The Desert Camouflage Uniform (DCU) is an arid-environment camouflage uniform that was used by the United States Armed Forces from the early-1990s to the early 2010s. In terms of pattern and textile cut, it is identical to the U.S. military's B ...

United States Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. U.S. United States Code, federal law names six armed forces: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States Navy, Na ...

, which in 1990 began to replace the 6-color

Desert Battle Dress Uniform The Desert Battle Dress Uniform (DBDU) is a U.S. arid-environment camouflage battle uniform that was used by the United States Armed Forces from the early 1980s to the early to mid 1990s, most notably during the Persian Gulf War. Although the U. ...

Six Color Variations of Desert Sand

Sandy brown

As its name suggests, ''sandy brown'' is a shade of

brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing and painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors Orange (colour), orange and black. In the ...

which is similar to the color of some sands.

Earth yellow

''Earth yellow'' is one of the twelve official camouflage colors of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

Sand

Sand is a

color Color (or colour in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though co ...

that resembles the color of

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

. In fact, another name for this color is beach, an alternate color name in use for this color since 1923. The first recorded use of ''sand'' as a color name in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

was in 1627. The

normalized color coordinates Normalization or normalisation refers to a process that makes something more normal or regular. Science * Normalization process theory, a sociological theory of the implementation of new technologies or innovations * Normalization model, used in v ...

for sand are identical to

ecru Ecru is a grayish yellow or cream colour. It initially indicated the colour of unbleached linen (approximately #FEFEE0 ), and some English dictionaries still define it this way. However, over the years it has also come to be used for a quite di ...

, which was first recorded as a color name in English in 1836. The

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

currently use Sand as one of their team colors.

Desert

Desert is a

that resembles the color of the flat areas of a

desert A desert is a landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions create unique biomes and ecosystems. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the la ...

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

was in 1920. The

for desert are identical to

fallow Fallow is a farming technique in which arable land is left without sowing for one or more vegetative cycles. The goal of fallowing is to allow the land to recover and store Organic compound, organic matter while retaining moisture and disrupting ...

, wood brown and

camel A camel (from and () from Ancient Semitic: ''gāmāl'') is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provid ...

, which were first recorded as color names in English in 1000, 1886,Ridgway (1886), pp. 36, 54, 117; Color Sample of Wood Brown: Plate III fig. 19 and 1916, respectively.

Sand dune (Drab)

Sand dune is a

that resembles the color of a

sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

composed of dark colored sand. The first recorded use of ''sand dune'' as a color name in

was in 1925. The

for sand dune are identical to the color names drab, mode beige and bistre brown, which were first recorded as color names in English, respectively, in 1686, 1928, and 1930.

Field drab

''Field drab'' is one of the twelve official camouflage colors of the

Desert sand in human culture

Fashion Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, Fashion accessory, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into Clothing, outfits that depict distinct ...

* ''Earth yellow'' is a popular color for

women A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...

handbag A handbag, commonly known as a purse in North American English, is a handled medium-to-large bag used to carry personal items. It has also been called a pocketbook in parts of the U.S. Terminology The term "purse" originally referred to a smal ...

Interior design Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. With a keen eye for detail and a Creativity, creative flair, an ...

* The tones of ''desert sand'' are called ''desert colors'' because they suggest the colors of the landscape of and of the design of the Native American cultures of the

Southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural list of regions of the United States, region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico, along with adjacen ...

. The ''desert colors'' are widely used (with both tones of

sky blue Sky blue refers to a collection of shades comparable to that of a clear daytime sky. Typically it is a shade of cyan or light teal, though some iterations are closer to light Azure (color), azure or light blue. The term (as "sky blew") is atte ...

turquoise Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrous phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula . It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gemstone for millennia due to its hue. The robi ...

and tones of

maroon Maroon ( , ) is a brownish crimson color that takes its name from the French word , meaning chestnut. ''Marron'' is also one of the French translations for "brown". Terms describing interchangeable shades, with overlapping RGB ranges, inc ...

to complement them) in ''Southwest Design''.

Military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

* The colors ''desert sand'', ''earth yellow'', ''sand'', and ''field drab'' are all on the list of the twelve standard camouflage colors used by the

United States Department of the Army The United States Department of the Army (DA) is one of the three military departments within the United States Department of Defense. The DA is the Federal government of the United States, federal government agency within which the United St ...

Six Color Variations of Desert Sand

Sandy brown

Earth yellow

Sand

Desert

Sand dune (Drab)

Field drab

Desert sand in human culture

Notes

References

Bibliography

Citations

See also