Violet is a color term derived from the flower of the same name. There are numerous variations of the color violet, a sampling of which are shown below.

Definition

The term violet has different meanings in different languages, countries and epochs. Even among many modern speakers within the English-speaking world there is confusion about the terms purple and violet. The blue-dominated spectral color beyond blue is referred to as purple by many speakers in the United States, but this color is called violet by many speakers in the United Kingdom. In some British authoritative texts the term purple refers to any mixture of red and blue, suggesting the color term purple covers the full range between red and blue in the United Kingdom. In other texts it is the term violet that covers the same full range of colors. The uncertainty about the range of meanings of the color terms violet and purple is even larger when other languages and historical texts are considered.

Variations of spectral violet

Although pure spectrum violet is outside the color gamut of the RGB color space, the three colors displayed below are rough approximations of the range of colors of actual spectral violet, although the accuracy of the approximation can vary depending on the individual's color vision, and on the color rendition of one's computer monitor.

Color wheel violet

The

tertiary 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 HSV

color wheel A color wheel or color circle is an abstract illustrative organization of color hues around a circle, which shows the relationships between primary colors, secondary colors, tertiary colors etc. Some sources use the terms ''color wheel'' an ...

(also known as the

RGB color wheel The RGB color model is an additive color model in which the red, green, and blue primary colors of light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three ad ...

) precisely halfway between

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

and

magenta Magenta () is a purple-red color. On color wheels of the RGB color model, RGB (additive) and subtractive color, CMY (subtractive) color models, it is located precisely midway between blue and red. It is one of the four colors of ink used in colo ...

is called color wheel violet. This tone of violet—an approximation of the color violet at about 417 nanometers as plotted on the CIE chromaticity diagram—is shown at right. This tone of violet is actually somewhat toward

indigo InterGlobe Aviation Limited (d/b/a IndiGo), is an India, Indian airline headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana, India. It is the largest List of airlines of India, airline in India by passengers carried and fleet size, with a 64.1% domestic market ...

assuming indigo is accepted as a separate spectrum color, usually quoted as having a range of from about 420 to 450 nanometers. Another name for this color is near violet.

Electric violet

The color at right, electric violet, is the closest approximation to middle ''spectrum violet'' that can be made on a computer screen, given the limitations of the

sRGB sRGB (standard RGB) is a colorspace, for use on monitors, printers, and the World Wide Web. It was initially proposed by HP and Microsoft in 1996 and became an official standard of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) as IEC 6 ...

color gamut. It is an approximation of the color violet at about 400 nanometers as plotted on the CIE chromaticity diagram, in the middle of the violet range of from 380 nanometers to 420 nanometers, assuming indigo as a separate spectrum color from 420 to 450 nanometers. Other names for this color are middle violet or simply violet.

Vivid violet

Displayed at right is the color vivid violet, a color approximately equivalent to the violet seen at the extreme edge of human visual perception. When plotted on the CIE chromaticity diagram, it can be seen that this is a hue corresponding to that of a visual stimulus of approximately 380 nm on the spectrum. Thus another name for this color is extreme violet.

Web colors

Web color "violet"

The so-called web color "violet" is in actuality not really a tint of violet, a spectral color, but is a non-spectral color. The web color violet is actually a rather pale tint of

because it has equal amounts of red and blue (the definition of magenta for computer display), and some of the green primary mixed in, unlike most other variants of violet that are closer to blue. This same color appears as "violet" in the

X11 color names In computing, on the X Window System, X11 color names are represented in a simple text file, which maps certain strings to RGB color values. It was traditionally shipped with every X11 installation, hence the name, and is usually located in ''< ...

Pigment violet (web color dark violet)

The color box at right displays the web color dark violet which is equivalent to pigment violet, i.e., the color violet as it would typically be reproduced by artist's paints, colored pencils, or crayons as opposed to the brighter "electric" violet above that it is possible to reproduce on a computer screen. Compare the subtractive colors to the additive colors in the two primary color charts in the article on primary colors to see the distinction between electric colors as reproducible from light on a computer screen (additive colors) and the pigment colors reproducible with pigments (subtractive colors); the additive colors are a lot brighter because they are produced from light instead of pigment. Pigment violet (web color dark violet) represents the way the color violet was always reproduced in pigments, paints, or colored pencils in the 1950s. By the 1970s, because of the advent of

psychedelic art Psychedelic art (also known as psychedelia) is art, graphics or visual displays related to or inspired by psychedelic experiences and hallucinations known to follow the ingestion of psychedelic drugs such as lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD, psil ...

, artists became used to brighter pigments, and pigments called "Violet" that are the pigment equivalent of the electric violet reproduced in the section above became available in artists pigments and colored pencils. (When approximating electric violet in artists pigments, a bit of

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

pigment is added to pigment violet.)

Other variations of the color violet

Ultra Violet (Pantone)

The color Ultra Violet is displayed at right. The source of this color is the " Pantone Textile Paper eXtended (TPX)" color list, color #18-3838 TPX—Ultra Violet. Ultra Violet was named as Pantone's Color of the Year for 2018. It should not be confused with

ultraviolet Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of ...

African violet

The color African violet is displayed at right. The source of this color is the " Pantone Textile Paper eXtended (TPX)" color list, color #16-3250 TPX—African Violet.

Chinese violet

The color Chinese violet is displayed at right. The first recorded use of ''Chinese violet'' as a color name in English was in 1912. The source of this color is the " Pantone Textile Paper eXtended (TPX)" color list, color #18-3418 TPX—Chinese Violet.

English violet

The color English violet is displayed at right. The first recorded use of ''English violet'' as a color name in English was in 1928.

French violet

At right is displayed the color French violet, which is the tone of violet that is called ''violet'' in the Pourpre.com color list, a color list widely popular in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Japanese violet

The color Japanese violet or Sumire is shown at right. This is the color called "violet" in the traditional Japanese colors group, a group of colors in use since beginning in 660 CE in the form of various

dye Juan de Guillebon, better known by his stage name DyE, is a French musician. He is known for the music video of the single "Fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical ele ...

s that are used in designing

kimono The is a traditional Japanese garment and the national dress of Japan. The kimono is a wrapped-front garment with square sleeves and a rectangular body, and is worn Garment collars in hanfu#Youren (right lapel), left side wrapped over ri ...

. The name of this color in Japanese is , meaning "violet color".

Spanish violet

Spanish violet is the color that is called ''Violeta'' (the Spanish word for "violet") in the ''Guía de coloraciones'' (''Guide to colorations'') by Rosa Gallego and Juan Carlos Sanz, a color dictionary published in 2005 that is widely popular in the Hispanophone realm.

Russian violet

The color Russian violet is displayed at right. The first recorded use of ''Russian violet'' as a color name in English was in 1926.

Grape

Grape is a color that is a representation of the color of grapes. It is currently unknown when ''grape'' was first used as a color name in English, but in 1994, "grape" was made into one of the Crayola Magic Scent crayon colors.

Lavender

At right is displayed the color lavender. This color may also be called lavender (floral) or floral lavender to distinguish it from the web color lavender. It is the color of the central part of the

lavender ''Lavandula'' (common name lavender) is a genus of 47 known species of perennial flowering plants in the sage family, Lamiaceae. It is native plant, native to the Old World, primarily found across the drier, warmer regions of the Mediterranean ...

flower. The first recorded use of the word ''lavender'' as a color term in English was in 1705. Since the color ''lavender'' has a hue code of 275, it may be regarded as a light tone of violet.

Mauve

Mauve (from the French form of ''Malva'' " mallow") is a color that is named after the mallow

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

. Another name for the color is mallow with the first recorded use of ''mallow'' as a color name in English in 1611.Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 198; Color Sample of Mallow: Page 125 Plate 51 Color Sample I3 Since the color ''mauve'' has a hue code of 276, it may be regarded as a pale tone of violet.

Wisteria

Displayed at right is the color wisteria. It represents the color of

wisteria ''Wisteria'' is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae (Leguminosae). The genus includes four species of woody twining vines that are native to China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, southern Canada, the Eastern United States, and nor ...

blooms. A crayon of this color and name was formulated by

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 ...

in 1993.

Petunia

Displayed at right is the color petunia. It represents the color of

petunia ''Petunia'' is a genus of 20 species of flowering plants of South American origin. The popular flower of the same name derived its epithet from the French, which took the word , 'tobacco', from a Tupi–Guarani language. A tender perennial plan ...

blooms.

References

External links

{{EMSpectrum simple:Violet