purple

CEFRA1

/ˈpɜː.pl̩/

adjective · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Having a color between red and blue.

  2. 02

    noun

    A color between red and blue.

Examples

  • Aya likes intense colors, such as hot pink, electric blue and deep purple.

  • Her hair was dyed a bright shade of purple.

At a glance

Sits at A1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /peːpl̩/

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Any non-spectral colour on the line of purples on a colour chromaticity diagram or a colour wheel between violet and red.

  2. Cloth, or a garment, dyed a purple colour; especially, a purple robe, worn as an emblem of rank or authority; specifically, the purple robe or mantle worn by Ancient Roman emperors as the emblem of imperial dignity.

noun

Extra meaning

  1. A colour between red and blue; violet, though often closer to magenta.

More examples

In context

  • The color is purple rather than pink.

  • 1776-1788, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire He was born in the purple.

  • to put on the imperial purple

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The artist mixed red and blue to create a beautiful shade of blank.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

From Middle English purple, purpel, from Old English purpul (“purple”, adjective), taken from Old English purpure (“purple colour”, noun), from Latin purpura (“purple dye, shellfish”), from Ancient Greek πορφύρα (porphúra, “purple-fish”), perhaps of Semitic origin. Doublet of purpura and purpure. The sense of "imperial power" is from the wearing of the color purple by emperors and kings.