We live in a colorful world. In many
countries, colors represent various holidays; they are also used to express
feelings and enliven language. Find your favorite color and see what it means
around the world.
Red
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For the ancient Romans, a red
flag was a signal for battle.
Because of its visibility, stop signs,
stoplights, brake lights, and fire equipment are all painted red.
The ancient Egyptians considered
themselves a red race and painted their bodies with red dye for
emphasis.
In Russia, red means beautiful.
The Bolsheviks used a red flag as their symbol when they overthrew the
tsar in 1917. That is how red became the color of communism.
In India, red is the symbol for a
soldier.
In South Africa, red is the color
of mourning.
It's considered good luck to tie a red
bow on a new car.
In China, red is the color of
good luck and is used as a holiday and wedding color. Chinese babies are given
their names at a red-egg ceremony.
Superstitious people think red
frightens the devil.
A “red-letter day” is one of
special importance and good fortune.
In Greece, eggs are dyed red for
good luck at Easter time.
To “paint the town red” is to
celebrate.
Red is the color most commonly found in national flags.
In the English War of the Roses, red
was the color of the House of Lancaster, which defeated the House of York,
symbolized by the color white.
The “Redshirts” were the soldiers
of the Italian leader Garibaldi, who unified modern Italy in the nineteenth
century.
To “see red” is to be angry.
A “red herring” is a distraction,
something that takes attention away from the real issue.
A “red eye” is an overnight
airplane flight.
If a business is “in the red,” it
is losing money.
Green
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Ancient Egyptians colored the floors of
their temples green.
In ancient Greece, green
symbolized victory.
In the highlands of Scotland, people
wore green as a mark of honor.
Green is the national color of Ireland.
A “greenback” is slang for a U.S.
dollar bill.
Green means “go.” When “all systems are green,” it means everything is
in order.
The green room of a concert hall
or theater is where performers relax before going onstage.
The “green-eyed monster” is
jealousy.
A greenhorn is a newcomer or
unsophisticated person.
Green is youthful.
Being “green around the gills” is
looking pale and sickly.
“Green with envy” means full of
envy or jealousy.
A person with a “green thumb” is
good at making plants grow.
A green, or common, is a town
park.
Green is a healing color, the color of nature.
Blue
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In Iran, blue is the color of
mourning.
Blue was used as protection against witches, who supposedly dislike the
color.
If you are “true blue,” you are
loyal and faithful.
Blue stands for love, which is why a bride carries or wears something blue
on her wedding day.
A room painted blue is said to be
relaxing.
“Feeling blue” is feeling sad. “Blue
devils” are feelings of depression.
Something “out of the blue” is
from an unknown source at an unexpected time.
A bluebook is a list of socially
prominent people.
The first prize gets a blue
ribbon.
A blue blood is a person of noble
descent. This is probably from the blue veins of the fair-complexioned
aristocrats who first used this term.
“Into the blue” means into the
unknown.
A “bluenose” is a strict,
puritanical person.
A “bluestocking” used to be a
scholarly or highly knowledgeable woman.
The pharaohs of ancient Egypt wore blue
for protection against evil.
The “blues” is a style of music
derived from southern African-American secular songs. It influenced the
development of rock, R&B, and country music.
“Blue laws” are used to enforce
moral standards.
A blue ribbon panel is a group of
especially qualified people.
Purple,
Violet
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In Thailand, purple is worn by a
widow mourning her husband's death.
A “purple heart” is a U.S.
military decoration for soldiers wounded or killed in battle.
Purple is a royal color.
Purple robes are an emblem of authority and rank.
“Purple speech” is profane talk.
“Purple prose” is writing that is
full of exaggerated literary effects and ornamentation.
Leonardo da Vinci believed that the
power of meditation increases 10 times when done in a purple light, as
in the purple light of stained glass.
Purple in a child's room is said to help develop the imagination according to
color theory.
Richard Wagner composed his operas in a
room with shades of violet, his color of inspiration.
Yellow
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In Spain, executioners once wore yellow.
In India, yellow is the symbol
for a merchant or farmer.
In tenth-century France, the doors of
traitors and criminals were painted yellow.
Hindus in India wear yellow to
celebrate the festival of spring.
If someone is said to have a “yellow
streak,” that person is considered a coward.
In Japan during the War of Dynasty in
1357, each warrior wore a yellow chrysanthemum as a pledge of courage.
A yellow ribbon is a sign of
support for soldiers at the front.
Yellow is a symbol of jealousy and deceit.
In the Middle Ages, actors portraying
the dead in a play wore yellow.
To holistic healers, yellow is
the color of peace.
Yellow has good visibility and is often used as a color of warning. It is also
a symbol for quarantine, an area marked off because of danger.
“Yellow journalism” refers to
irresponsible and alarmist reporting.
White
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White means mourning in China and Japan.
Angels are usually depicted wearing white
robes.
The ancient Greeks wore white to
bed to ensure pleasant dreams.
The Egyptian pharaohs wore white
crowns.
The ancient Persians believed all gods
wore white.
A “white elephant” is a rare,
pale elephant considered sacred to the people of India, Thailand, Burma, and
Sri Lanka; in this country, it is either a possession that costs more than it
is worth to keep or an item that the owner doesn't want but can't get rid of.
It's considered good luck to be married
in a white garment.
White heat is a state of intense enthusiasm, anger, devotion, or passion.
To whitewash is to gloss over
defects or make something seem presentable that isn't.
A “white knight” is a rescuer.
A white list contains favored
items (as opposed to a blacklist).
A “whiteout” occurs when there is
zero visibility during a blizzard.
A “white sale” is a sale of
sheets, towels, and other bed and bath items.
A “whited sepulcher” is a person
who is evil inside but appears good on the outside, a hypocrite.
“White lightning” is slang for
moonshine, a homebrewed alcohol.
A white room is a clean room as
well as a temperature-controlled, dust-free room for precision instruments.
White water is the foamy, frothy water in rapids and waterfalls.
Black
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The “Blackshirts” were the
security troops in Hitler's German army, also known as the S.S.
Black often stands for secrecy.
Black humor is morbid or unhealthy and gloomy humor.
A “blackhearted” person is evil.
If a business is “in the black,”
it is making money.
A “blacklist” is a list of persons
or organizations to be boycotted or punished.
Black is associated with sophistication and elegance. A “black tie”
event is formal.
A black belt in karate identifies
an expert.
A black flag in a car race is the
signal for a driver to go to the pits.
A blackguard is a scoundrel.
The ancient Egyptians believed that black
cats had divine powers.
Black lung is a coal miner's disease caused by the frequent inhaling of coal
dust.
Blackmail is getting things by threat.
Black market is illegal trade in goods or money.
A black sheep is an outcast.
“Blackwash” (as opposed to
“whitewash”) is to uncover or bring out in the light.
A blackout is a period of
darkness from the loss of electricity, for protection against nighttime air
raids, or, in the theater, to separate scenes in a play.
When you “black out,” you
temporarily lose consciousness.
See
also Quiz: The Psychology of Color.
