# A GQ with multiple answers. What are the origins of the various colour associations? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 17, 2008, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gq-with-multiple-answers-what-are-the-origins-of-the-various-colour-associations/437936 "2008-02-17T00:24:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2008, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gq-with-multiple-answers-what-are-the-origins-of-the-various-colour-associations/437936/1 "2008-02-17T00:24:05Z")
I don’t believe that colours _inherrently_ deserve their associative meanings. I think they must have got them from somewhere, somewhen. I refer to associations like pink = femininity, red = danger. I am assuming the red = danger one has some connection with blood, but I could be wrong. I’m most curious about pink. I can’t look at pink without directly attaching girliness to it. How did something that’s just a colour come to be so heavilly associated with femininity? And if there are any associations for the other colours (or colour combos such as black+yellow) where did they originate? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2008, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gq-with-multiple-answers-what-are-the-origins-of-the-various-colour-associations/437936/2 "2008-02-17T00:39:09Z")
Black + yellow, from what I’ve heard, originated from nature. Poison-carrying animals often have a black and yellow motif as a warning to other animals to not try anything. The combination appears to be highly noticable–sort of the opposite of camouflage. As such, it’s ideal for warnings. Purple is traditionally the sign of royalty. In the European area there was one [particular critter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murex) in the Mediteranean from which a proper purple dye could be made. It was quite rare, and thus quite expensive and so only the most noble could afford it and eventually the monarchy declared it their own. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2008, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gq-with-multiple-answers-what-are-the-origins-of-the-various-colour-associations/437936/3 "2008-02-17T00:49:04Z")
Pink: [http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=238733](http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=238733) ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2008, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gq-with-multiple-answers-what-are-the-origins-of-the-various-colour-associations/437936/4 "2008-02-17T00:49:16Z")
There was an old thread that went through the pink/blue thing, but apparently it didn’t survive the purge of old stuff. IIRC, in the 19th century, pink (the pastel red) was considered the ‘boy color,’ while the softer, more serene blue was the color for little girls. There were a few very popular paintings that depicted a girl in pink, and a boy in blue, which may have contributed to reversing the general perception, but I don’t remember what they were off the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2008, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gq-with-multiple-answers-what-are-the-origins-of-the-various-colour-associations/437936/5 "2008-02-17T02:14:01Z")
Also, those colors aren’t necessarily the same for all cultures - in Asia, red is a color of fortune and celebration. Brides wear red there. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2008, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gq-with-multiple-answers-what-are-the-origins-of-the-various-colour-associations/437936/6 "2008-02-17T02:29:18Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] Brides wear red there. [/QUOTE] You’d think the groom would heed the warning. I always wondered where the green -\> envy thing came from. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2008, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gq-with-multiple-answers-what-are-the-origins-of-the-various-colour-associations/437936/7 "2008-02-17T02:40:57Z")
[QUOTE=GilaB] There was an old thread that went through the pink/blue thing, but apparently it didn’t survive the purge of old stuff. IIRC, in the 19th century, pink (the pastel red) was considered the ‘boy color,’ while the softer, more serene blue was the color for little girls. There were a few very popular paintings that depicted a girl in pink, and a boy in blue, which may have contributed to reversing the general perception, but I don’t remember what they were off the top of my head. [/QUOTE] But blue has been associated with babies from much earlier than that. Blue anti-evil-eye amulets are common in Mediterranean countries. The boys “won” that color association, and the blue-for-boys, pink-for-girls is of a much more recent vintage than blue-for-babies (esp. baby boys). Yellow is associated with jealousy, green with envy and also with the supernatural (in Britain and Ireland) (whence “green is unlucky” and, paradoxically, also “green is lucky”). Black for mourning goes way back in the west. I suspect it’s partly the color of the night (and death is often visualized as a great sleep), and partly because any old clothes can be dyed black, but it’s hard to dye everything light blue or chartreuse. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2008, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gq-with-multiple-answers-what-are-the-origins-of-the-various-colour-associations/437936/8 "2008-02-17T03:01:43Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] Purple is traditionally the sign of royalty. In the European area there was one [particular critter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murex) in the Mediteranean from which a proper purple dye could be made. It was quite rare, and thus quite expensive and so only the most noble could afford it and eventually the monarchy declared it their own. [/QUOTE] This is the one, as a Rennie and historical costume afficianado, that I’ve never understood. The “purple” of the Murex, [Tyrian purple](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrian_purple) is the color we’d call "[burgundy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgundy_%28color%29) ", not [any of the shades of the color commonly known as “purple”,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Shades_of_violet) Yet the later are what are anathema to historical reenactors. I don’ get it. I know it was \*called \*purple, but why don’t we associate burgundy with royalty? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2008, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gq-with-multiple-answers-what-are-the-origins-of-the-various-colour-associations/437936/9 "2008-02-17T03:13:17Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] This is the one, as a Rennie and historical costume afficianado, that I’ve never understood. The “purple” of the Murex, [Tyrian purple](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrian_purple) is the color we’d call "[burgundy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgundy_%28color%29) ", not [any of the shades of the color commonly known as “purple”,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Shades_of_violet) Yet the later are what are anathema to historical reenactors. I don’ get it. I know it was \*called \*purple, but why don’t we associate burgundy with royalty? [/QUOTE] The “Tyrian Purple (Imperial Purple) (Hex: #66023C) (RGB: 102, 2, 60)” really isn’t that far from a real purple. But I suspect that what the issue is, is that purple is what they aiming for, even if it was hard to get even with the Murex dyes. So as time went on and dyes improved, the color shifted to a more violet hue. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2008, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gq-with-multiple-answers-what-are-the-origins-of-the-various-colour-associations/437936/10 "2008-02-17T11:28:06Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] The “Tyrian Purple (Imperial Purple) (Hex: #66023C) (RGB: 102, 2, 60)” really isn’t that far from a real purple. But I suspect that what the issue is, is that purple is what they aiming for, even if it was hard to get even with the Murex dyes. So as time went on and dyes improved, the color shifted to a more violet hue. [/QUOTE] Somewhere I read that the color purple changed from being a reddish color to a more bluish shade due to the increasing rarity of the Murex dyes. As they became rarer and thus more expensive, dyers would adulterate them with bluish dyes. Eventually, the bluish dyes started to dominate the color, hence what they called purple became a reddish-blue hue. Don’t know if this is true or not, but it sounds likely. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2008, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gq-with-multiple-answers-what-are-the-origins-of-the-various-colour-associations/437936/11 "2008-02-17T20:25:41Z")
[QUOTE=dtilque] Somewhere I read that the color purple changed from being a reddish color to a more bluish shade due to the increasing rarity of the Murex dyes. As they became rarer and thus more expensive, dyers would adulterate them with bluish dyes. Eventually, the bluish dyes started to dominate the color, hence what they called purple became a reddish-blue hue. Don’t know if this is true or not, but it sounds likely. [/QUOTE] I’d say that could work since my (admittedly fuzzy) memory of latin recalls “puniceus” a word that can both mean red and purple, implying they were much closer in shade than they are now. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2008, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gq-with-multiple-answers-what-are-the-origins-of-the-various-colour-associations/437936/12 "2008-02-17T21:04:02Z")
It could just be a color word thing, though - like how in Japan “green” is more of a blue green, right? ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gq-with-multiple-answers-what-are-the-origins-of-the-various-colour-associations/437936/13 "2008-02-18T01:05:42Z")
It’s worth mentioning that in Japan and other Asian countries, _white_ is the color of death and mourning. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gq-with-multiple-answers-what-are-the-origins-of-the-various-colour-associations/437936/14 "2008-02-18T02:31:04Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] Also, those colors aren’t necessarily the same for all cultures - in Asia, red is a color of fortune and celebration. Brides wear red there. [/QUOTE] And in China (& Hawai’i) **yellow** was the color associated with royalty. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gq-with-multiple-answers-what-are-the-origins-of-the-various-colour-associations/437936/15 "2008-02-18T02:32:31Z")
[QUOTE=alphaboi867] And in China (& Hawai’i) **yellow** was the color associated with royalty. [/QUOTE] Now _ **that’s** _ an idea I can get behind. (What!? Yellow’s my favorite color…) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gq-with-multiple-answers-what-are-the-origins-of-the-various-colour-associations/437936/16 "2008-02-18T04:19:01Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang] I am assuming the red = danger one has some connection with blood, but I could be wrong. [/QUOTE] I figure red also has an association with fire, though arguably a lot of flame is orange or yellow, so perhaps it’s not quite so clear cut. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2008, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gq-with-multiple-answers-what-are-the-origins-of-the-various-colour-associations/437936/17 "2008-02-19T18:50:41Z")
[QUOTE=GilaB] There were a few very popular paintings that depicted a girl in pink, and a boy in blue, which may have contributed to reversing the general perception, but I don’t remember what they were off the top of my head. [/QUOTE] The Blue Boy by Thomas Gainsborough Pinkie by Thomas Lawrence Both can be seen at the [Huntington Library in San Marino, California](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntington_Library) ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2008, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-gq-with-multiple-answers-what-are-the-origins-of-the-various-colour-associations/437936/18 "2008-02-20T11:36:25Z")
> [@](#): > > I figure red also has an association with fire, though arguably a lot of flame is orange or yellow, so perhaps it’s not quite so clear cut. Red means danger, attention, warning etc. because of **blood**. Period. If a caveman saw his buddy covered in some green slime he’d be no more than curious. Red slime and he’d be alarmed. Its still true today. Even [Cecil](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_152.html) says so.