When it comes to colors, you probably think you know all there is to know. You certainly learned all the colors of the rainbow in school—violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, red—but there are plenty of other obscure colors you've likely never heard of.
Though you may have seen these strange shades before, you likely mistook them for a more common color. That fuchsia dress you love could actually be amaranth and your kid’s rubber ducky is probably aureolin, not yellow. Read on to learn about some obscure colors you've never heard of before.
Amaranth
Amaranth is a red-pink hue, derived from the word amaranthine—meaning, eternally beautiful, and everlasting. This red-pink hue is based on the color of the flowers on the amaranth plant. Amaranth is composed of 89.8 percent red, 16.9 percent green, and 31.4 percent blue.
Coquelicot
The term "coquelicot" was originally a French word for the wild corn poppy known for its bright, red-orange tint. The English language adopted the word to describe the color of that poppy, which is composed of 100 percent red, 22 percent green, and no blue.
Burlywood
On the RGB (Red, Green, and Blue) color chart, burlywood is a pretty balanced color, composed of 87.1 percent red, 72.2 percent green, and 52.9 percent blue. This light shade of brown is similar to that of khaki and is unsurprisingly named after a brown, sandy-colored wood.
Celadon
Everyone can agree that celadon is a beautiful shade of green. It was once a color reserved for special, expensive ceramics owned by royals. The pale green color is a combination of 67.5 percent red, 88.2 percent green, and 68.6 percent blue on the RGB color chart.
Feldgrau
Feldgrau is a green-gray color that looks like something you would often see on a military uniform. During World War I, feldgrau became the official color of the military uniforms of the German Army. On the RGB color system, it's an almost perfect mix of all three colors: 30.2 percent red, 36.5 percent green, and 32.5 percent blue.
Wenge
If you have ever shopped for furniture, you know wenge. Wenge is that dark brown wood color with copper undertones that even classes up particle board. Actual wenge wood comes from the endangered Millettia laurentii legume tree, so you won't find it at West Elm.
Mountbatten Pink
Mountbatten pink may technically be classified as pink, but it certainly looks more of a purple. That’s possibly for its strong combination of red (60 percent) and blue (55.3 percent) on the RGB color chart, with an addition of 47.8 percent green. According to the book ‘Great Personalities of the World’, this gray-mauve color was used by Lord Mountbatten of the British Royal Navy to paint ships during World War II.
Skobeloff
What you may be referring to as teal could actually be skobeloff. Skobeloff is a perfect combination of green and blue, composed of 45.5 percent green, 45.5 percent blue, and 0 percent red in the RGB color chart.
You can now go beyond the crayon box colors and try new shades from the above list.
