The Color Naming System (CNS) is a systematic notation for named colors for computer applications using
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national id ...
terms created by Berk et al. in 1982.
System

CNS uses ten color names, three of which (''black, white, gray'') are special, and has them combined or prefixed with several modifiers.
The system expressed in
Backus–Naur form
In computer science, Backus–Naur form () or Backus normal form (BNF) is a metasyntax notation for context-free grammars, often used to describe the syntax of languages used in computing, such as computer programming languages, document format ...
looks something like this:.
named-color := gray-color , chromatic-color
gray-color := 'black' , 'white' , lightness gray
gray := 'gray' , 'grey'
chromatic-color := shade hue , saturation hue
tint := 'whitish' , 'pale' , 'brilliant' , 'vivid'
shade := 'blackish' , 'dim' , 'deep' , 'vivid'
saturation := 'grayish' , 'moderate' , 'strong' , 'vivid'
lightness := 'moderate' , 'very'? 'light' hue := splash-color? base-color , base-color '-' base-color
base-color := 'red' , 'orange' , 'brown' , 'yellow' , 'green' , 'blue' , 'purple'
splash-color := 'reddish' , 'orangish' , 'brownish' , 'yellowish' , 'greenish' , 'bluish' , 'purplish'
Derivations
There have been variations of the CNS proposed for inclusion into
CSS
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language used for describing the presentation of a document written in a markup language such as HTML or XML (including XML dialects such as SVG, MathML or XHTML). CSS is a cornerstone t ...
that are more compatible with existing schemes.
[{{cite web, url=http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-style/2002May/0201.html, author=Benjamin D. Gray, date=May 2002, title=New CSS3 Color Names]
color := , lightness , , transparencyhue
saturation := absolute saturation-value , saturation-value relative
saturation-value := 'dull' , 'bright'
lightness := absolute lightness-value , lightness-value relative
lightness-value := 'dark' , 'light'
absolute := odifier '-'
modifier := 'extra' , 'semi'
relative := 'er'
transparency := semi-' opacity-value
opacity-value := 'opaque' , 'transparent'
hue := prime , general , special
prime := 'red' , 'green' , 'blue' , 'cyan' , 'magenta' , 'yellow' , 'white' , 'black'
general := 'navy' , 'lime' , 'teal' , 'aqua' , 'maroon' , 'purple' , 'fuchsia' , 'olive' , 'gray' , 'silver'
special := extra , composite ; composite ≈ prime '-' prime
extra := 'pink' , 'brown' , 'tan' , 'orange'
composite := 'yellow-green' , 'green-cyan' , 'cyan-blue' , 'blue-magenta' , 'magenta-red' , …
See also
ISCC-NBS System - a competing color naming system
References
Color