Pink is the color of
a namesake flower that is a pale tint of red. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, politeness, sensitivity, tenderness, sweetness, childhood, femininity, and romance. A combination of pink and white is associated with chastity and innocence, whereas a combination of pink and black links to eroticism and seduction. In the 21st century, pink is seen as
a symbol of femininity, though this has not always been true; in the 1920s, pink was seen as a color that reflected
masculinity
Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some behaviors con ...
.
In nature and culture
File:Color icon pink v2.svg, Various shades of pink
File:Dianthus.jpg, The color pink takes its name from the flowers called pinks, members of the genus ''Dianthus
''Dianthus'' () is a genus of about 340 species of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae, native mainly to Europe and Asia, with a few species in north Africa and in southern Africa, and one species (''D. repens'') in arctic North Ameri ...
''.
File:Rosa Queen Elizabeth1ZIXIETTE.jpg, In most European languages, pink is called ''rose'' or ''rosa'', after the rose
A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...
flower.
File:Cherry blossoms in the Tsutsujigaoka Park.jpg, Cherry blossoms in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan. In Japanese the word for cherry blossom pink is (), and peach blossoms ().
File:Greater Flamingoes (Phoenicopterus roseus) after taking off W2 IMG 9857.jpg, Greater pink flamingo
Flamingos or flamingoes are a type of Wader, wading bird in the Family (biology), family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas ...
es in flight over Pocharam Lake in Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
, India.
File:Barite-Rhodochrosite-tcm01a.jpg, Rhodochrosite
Rhodochrosite is a manganese carbonate mineral with chemical composition MnCO3. In its (rare) pure form, it is typically a rose-red color, but impure specimens can be shades of pink to pale brown. It streaks white, and its Mohs hardness varies bet ...
is one of the many pink gemstones.
Etymology and definitions
The color pink is named after the flowers,
pinks,
flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...
s in the genus ''
Dianthus
''Dianthus'' () is a genus of about 340 species of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae, native mainly to Europe and Asia, with a few species in north Africa and in southern Africa, and one species (''D. repens'') in arctic North Ameri ...
,'' and derives from the frilled edge of the flowers. The
verb
A verb () is a word (part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descri ...
"to pink" dates from the 14th century and means "to decorate with a perforated or punched pattern" (possibly from German ''picken'', "to peck").
The verb "pink" continues to be reflected today as the name of hand-held scissors that cut a zig-zagged line to prevent fraying that are referred to as
pinking shears
Pinking shears are scissors with saw-toothed instead of straight blades. They produce a zigzag pattern instead of a straight edge.
Before pinking scissors were invented, a pinking punch or pinking iron was used to punch out a decorative hem on ...
.
History, art and fashion
The color pink has been described in literature since ancient times. In the ''
Odyssey
The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major Ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek Epic poetry, epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by moder ...
'', written in approximately 800 BCE,
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
wrote "Then, when the child of morning,
rosy-fingered dawn appeared..." Roman poets also described the color. ''
Roseus
Roseus is a Latin adjective meaning rose, rosy or pink.
Species and cultivars
* Roseus, a rosemary cultivar
* Roseus or Pink Snow, an early crocus (''Crocus tommasinianus'') cultivar
See also
* Rosea (disambiguation)
Rosea may refer to:
* a La ...
'' is the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
word meaning "
rosy
Rosy is a given name or nickname and, more rarely, a surname. It may refer to:
__NOTOC__ People Given name
* Rosy Afsari (1946?–2007), actress in the Bangladeshi film industry
* Rosy Akbar, Fijian politician who assumed office in 2014
* Rosy Ar ...
" or "pink."
Lucretius
Titus Lucretius Carus ( , ; – ) was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is the philosophical poem ''De rerum natura'', a didactic work about the tenets and philosophy of Epicureanism, and which usually is translated into E ...
used the word to describe the
dawn
Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's horizo ...
in his
epic poem
An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants.
...
''On the Nature of Things'' (''
De rerum natura
''De rerum natura'' (; ''On the Nature of Things'') is a first-century BC didactic poem by the Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius ( – c. 55 BC) with the goal of explaining Epicurean philosophy to a Roman audience. The poem, written in some 7 ...
'').
Pink was not a common color in the fashion of the Middle Ages; nobles usually preferred brighter reds, such as crimson. However, it did appear in women's fashion and religious art. In the 13th and 14th centuries, in works by
Cimabue
Cimabue (; ; – 1302), Translated with an introduction and notes by J.C. and P Bondanella. Oxford: Oxford University Press (Oxford World’s Classics), 1991, pp. 7–14. . also known as Cenni di Pepo or Cenni di Pepi, was an Italian painter a ...
and
Duccio
Duccio di Buoninsegna ( , ; – ) was an Italian painter active in Siena, Tuscany, in the late 13th and early 14th century. He was hired throughout his life to complete many important works in government and religious buildings around Italy. Ducc ...
, the Christ child was sometimes portrayed dressed in pink, the color associated with the body of Christ.
In the high Renaissance painting the ''
Madonna of the Pinks
The ''Madonna of the Pinks'' (c. 1506 – 1507, it, La Madonna dei garofani) is an early devotional painting usually attributed to Italian Renaissance master Raphael. It is painted in oil painting, oils on fruitwood and now hangs in the National ...
'' by
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of works by Raphael, His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of ...
, the Christ child is presenting a
pink flower to the
Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...
. The pink was a symbol of marriage, showing a spiritual marriage between the mother and child.
During the Renaissance, pink was mainly used for the flesh color of faces and hands. The pigment commonly used for this was called light cinabrese; it was a mixture of the red earth pigment called
sinopia
Sinopia (also known as sinoper, named after the now Turkish city Sinop) is a dark reddish-brown natural earth pigment, whose reddish colour comes from hematite, a dehydrated form of iron oxide. It was widely used in Classical Antiquity and th ...
, or
Venetian red
Venetian red is a light and warm (somewhat unsaturated) pigment that is a darker shade of red, derived from nearly pure ferric oxide (Fe2O3) of the hematite type. Modern versions are frequently made with synthetic red iron oxide.
Historically, ...
, and a white pigment called ''Bianco San Genovese'', or lime white. In his famous 15th century manual on painting, ''Il Libro Dell'Arte'',
Cennino Cennini
Cennino d'Andrea Cennini (c. 1360 – before 1427) was an Italian painter influenced by Giotto. He was a student of Agnolo Gaddi in Florence. Gaddi trained under his father, called Taddeo Gaddi, who trained with Giotto.
Cennini was born in ...
described it this way: "This pigment is made from the loveliest and lightest sinopia that is found and is mixed and mulled with St. John’s white, as it is called in Florence; and this white is made from thoroughly white and thoroughly purified lime. And when these two pigments have been thoroughly mulled together (that is, two parts cinabrese and the third white), make little loaves of them like half walnuts and leave them to dry. When you need some, take however much of it seems appropriate. And this pigment does you great credit if you use it for painting faces, hands, and nudes on walls..."
File:East in Libadakia, Serifos, Greece.jpg, The Greek poet Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
wrote of "the child of morning, rose-fingered dawn" in the ''Odyssey
The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major Ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek Epic poetry, epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by moder ...
''. Sunrise at Serifos
Serifos ( el, Σέριφος, la, Seriphus, also Seriphos; Seriphos: Eth. Seriphios: Serpho) is a Greek island municipality in the Aegean Sea, located in the western Cyclades, south of Kythnos and northwest of Sifnos. It is part of the Milos reg ...
, Greece.
File:Cimabue, The Virgin and Child Enthroned with Two Angels.jpg, In the early Renaissance, the infant Jesus was sometimes shown dressed in pink, the color associated with the body of Christ. This is ''The Virgin and Child Enthroned with Two Angels'', by Cimabue
Cimabue (; ; – 1302), Translated with an introduction and notes by J.C. and P Bondanella. Oxford: Oxford University Press (Oxford World’s Classics), 1991, pp. 7–14. . also known as Cenni di Pepo or Cenni di Pepi, was an Italian painter a ...
. (1265–1280)
File:Duccio di Buoninsegna - Madonna and Child (no. 593) - WGA06706.jpg, In the 1280s, Duccio
Duccio di Buoninsegna ( , ; – ) was an Italian painter active in Siena, Tuscany, in the late 13th and early 14th century. He was hired throughout his life to complete many important works in government and religious buildings around Italy. Ducc ...
also painted the Christ child dressed in pink
File:Kneeling knight received a swan-crested helmet.jpg, A knight in red receiving a helmet from a damsel in pink, from an English manuscript of ''The Romance of Alexander'' (1338-1344).
File:Raphael Madonna of the Pinks.jpg, In the painting ''Madonna of the Pinks
The ''Madonna of the Pinks'' (c. 1506 – 1507, it, La Madonna dei garofani) is an early devotional painting usually attributed to Italian Renaissance master Raphael. It is painted in oil painting, oils on fruitwood and now hangs in the National ...
'' by Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of works by Raphael, His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of ...
, c. 1506-07, the Christ Child gives a pink flower to the Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...
, symbolizing the union between the mother and child.
18th century
The zenith of the color pink was the 18th century, when pastel colors became very fashionable in all the courts of Europe. Pink was particularly championed by
Madame de Pompadour
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (, ; 29 December 1721 – 15 April 1764), commonly known as Madame de Pompadour, was a member of the French court. She was the official chief mistress of King Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, and rema ...
(1721–1764), the mistress of King
Louis XV of France
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...
, who wore combinations of pale blue and pink, and had a particular tint of pink made for her by the
Sevres porcelain factory, created by adding nuances of blue, black and yellow.
While pink was quite evidently the color of seduction in the portraits made by
George Romney of
Emma, Lady Hamilton
Dame Emma Hamilton (born Amy Lyon; 26 April 176515 January 1815), generally known as Lady Hamilton, was an English maid, model, dancer and actress. She began her career in London's demi-monde, becoming the mistress of a series of wealthy men ...
, the future mistress of Admiral
Horatio Nelson
Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics brought abo ...
, in the late 18th century, it had the completely opposite meaning in the portrait of Sarah Barrett Moulton painted by
Thomas Lawrence
Sir Thomas Lawrence (13 April 1769 – 7 January 1830) was an English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. A child prodigy, he was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was an innkeeper at t ...
in 1794. In this painting, it symbolized childhood, innocence and tenderness. Sarah Moulton was just eleven years of age when the picture was painted, and died the following year.
File:Boucher, François - Marquise de Pompadour at the Toilet-Table.jpg, Madame de Pompadour
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (, ; 29 December 1721 – 15 April 1764), commonly known as Madame de Pompadour, was a member of the French court. She was the official chief mistress of King Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, and rema ...
, the mistress of Louis XV of France
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...
, made pink and blue the leading fashion colors in the Court of Versailles. She had a special pink tint created for her by the Sevres porcelain factory. This portrait by François Boucher
François Boucher ( , ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories ...
was painted in 1758.
File:Galerie des Modes 3.jpg, Pink had become a popular color throughout Europe by the late 18th century. It was associated with both romanticism and seduction. This fashion plate is from 1778–1787.
File:George Romney - Lady Hamilton (as a Bacchante) 3.jpg, Emma, Lady Hamilton
Dame Emma Hamilton (born Amy Lyon; 26 April 176515 January 1815), generally known as Lady Hamilton, was an English maid, model, dancer and actress. She began her career in London's demi-monde, becoming the mistress of a series of wealthy men ...
, later the mistress of Admiral Horatio Nelson
Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics brought abo ...
, had herself painted by English painter George Romney posing as a Bacchante
In Greek mythology, maenads (; grc, μαινάδες ) were the female followers of Dionysus and the most significant members of the Thiasus, the god's retinue. Their name literally translates as "raving ones". Maenads were known as Bassarids, ...
, dressed in pink. (1782–1784)
File:Pinkie detailed.jpg, The portrait of Sarah Moulton, popularly known as "Pinkie", by Sir Thomas Lawrence
Sir Thomas Lawrence (13 April 1769 – 7 January 1830) was an English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. A child prodigy, he was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was an innkeeper at t ...
(1794). Here pink represented youth, innocence and tenderness.
File:D'Holbach.jpg, Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach
Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach (; 8 December 1723 – 21 January 1789), was a French-German philosopher, encyclopedist, writer, and prominent figure in the French Enlightenment. He was born Paul Heinrich Dietrich in Edesheim, near La ...
by Louis Carmontelle. Pink was worn regardless of gender.
19th century
In 19th century England, pink ribbons or decorations were often worn by young boys; boys were simply considered small men, and while men in England wore red uniforms, boys wore pink. In fact the clothing for children in the 19th century was almost always white, since, before the invention of chemical dyes, clothing of any color would quickly fade when washed in boiling water.
Queen Victoria was painted in 1850 with her seventh child and third son, Prince Arthur, who wore white and pink. In late nineteenth-century France, Impressionist painters working in a pastel color palette sometimes depicted women wearing the color pink, such as
Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings.
Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is es ...
’ image of ballet dancers or
Mary Cassatt
Mary Stevenson Cassatt (; May 22, 1844June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh's North Side), but lived much of her adult life in France, where she befriended Edgar De ...
’s images of women and children.
File:Queen Victoria with Prince Arthur.jpg, Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
in 1850 or 1851 with her third son and seventh child, Prince Arthur. In the 19th century, baby boys often wore white and pink. Pink was seen as a masculine color, while girls often wore white and blue.
File:American School, Young Boy with Whip, ca. 1840.jpg, Young boy in pink, American school of painting (about 1840). Both girls and boys wore pink in the 19th century.
File:Princesaleopoldina.jpg, Princess Leopoldina of Brazil
Princess Leopoldina of Brazil (Leopoldina Teresa Francisca Carolina Miguela Gabriela Rafaela Gonzaga; 13 July 1847 – 7 February 1871) was the daughter of Emperor Pedro II and Empress Teresa Cristina. She shared the first name of her grandmother ...
in pink gown (1853)
File:Edgar Germain Hilaire Degas 079.jpg, ''Dancers in pink, between scenes''. Edgar Degas
File:Claude Monet - Springtime - Google Art Project.jpg, The Impressionist painter Claude Monet
Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...
used pink, blue and green to capture the effects of light and shadows on a white dress in ''Springtime
Springtime may refer to:
* Spring (season), one of the four temperate seasons
Film and television
* ''Springtime'' (1920 film), an American silent comedy starring Oliver Hardy
* ''Springtime'' (1929 film), a ''Silly Symphonies'' animated Disney ...
'' (1872).
File:Girl in a Bonnet Tied with a Large Pink Bow by Mary Cassatt.jpg, Mary Cassatt, ''Girl in a Bonnet Tied with a Large Pink Bow'', 1909. Oil on canvas (68 x 57.2 cm). Private Collection.
20th century - present
A dress parade, held in 1949, at the famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, caused a stir among attendees due to the vibrant pink tones in the dresses and garments. The journalists and critics of the time, seeking to know Mexican designer Ramón Valdiosera's inspiration, asked him about the origin of the color. The artist simply replied that that pink was already part of Mexican culture, which the New York fashion critic Perle Mesta then described as Mexican Pink.
The
First inauguration of Dwight D. Eisenhower
The first inauguration of Dwight D. Eisenhower as the 34th president of the United States was held on Tuesday, January 20, 1953, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the 42nd inauguration and marked the ...
(1953), when Eisenhower's wife
Mamie Eisenhower
Mary Geneva "Mamie" Eisenhower (; November 14, 1896 – November 1, 1979) was the first lady of the United States from 1953 to 1961 as the wife of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Born in Boone, Iowa, she was raised in a wealthy household in C ...
wore a pink dress as her inaugural gown, is thought to have been a key turning point in the association of pink as a color associated with girls. Mamie's strong liking of pink led to the public association with pink being a color that "ladylike women wear." The 1957 American musical ''
Funny Face
''Funny Face'' is a 1957 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Stanley Donen and written by Leonard Gershe, containing assorted songs by George and Ira Gershwin. Although having the same title as the 1927 Broadway musical ''Funny F ...
'' also played a role in cementing the color's association with women.
[Archived a]
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
In the 20th century, pinks became bolder, brighter, and more assertive, partly because of the invention of chemical dyes that did not fade. The pioneer in the creation of the new wave of pinks was the Italian designer
Elsa Schiaparelli
Elsa Schiaparelli ( , also , ; 10 September 1890 – 13 November 1973) was a fashion designer from an Italian aristocratic background.
She created the house of Schiaparelli in Paris in 1927, which she managed from the 1930s to the 1950s. ...
, (1890-1973), who was aligned with the artists of the
surrealist
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...
movement, including
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the su ...
.
In 1931 she created a new variety of the color, called
shocking pink
Pink colors are usually light or desaturated shades of reds, roses, and magentas which are created on computer and television screens using the RGB color model and in printing with the CMYK color model. As such, it is an arbitrary classificati ...
, made by mixing
magenta
Magenta () is a color that is variously defined as pinkish- purplish-red, reddish-purplish-pink or mauvish-crimson. On color wheels of the RGB (additive) and CMY (subtractive) color models, it is located exactly midway between red and blue. I ...
with a small amount of white. She launched a perfume called Shocking, sold in a bottle in the shape of a woman's torso, said to be modelled on that of
Mae West
Mae West (born Mary Jane West; August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980) was an American stage and film actress, playwright, screenwriter, singer, and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned over seven decades. She was known for her breezy ...
. Her fashions, co-designed with artists like Cocteau, featured the new pinks.
In
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
in the 1930s and 1940s, inmates of
Nazi concentration camps
From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as concen ...
who were accused of
homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...
were forced to wear a
pink triangle
A pink triangle has been a symbol for the LGBTQ+ community, initially intended as a badge of shame, but later reclaimed as a positive symbol of self-identity and love for queerness. In Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, it began as one of the Na ...
. Because of this, the pink triangle has become a symbol of the modern
gay rights movement
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements are social movements that advocate for LGBT people in society. Some focus on equal rights, such as the ongoing movement for same-sex marriage, while others focus on liberation, as in the ...
.
The transition to pink as a sexually differentiating color for girls occurred gradually, through the selective process of the marketplace, in the 1930s and 40s. In the 1920s, some groups had described pink as a masculine color, an equivalent to red, which was considered for men but lighter for boys. But stores nonetheless found that people were increasingly choosing to buy pink for girls, and blue for boys, until this became an accepted norm in the 1940s.
File:mamie eisenhower.gif, Mamie Eisenhower in her pink inaugural gown, painted in 1953 by Thomas Stevens
File:Shocking Pink Schiaparelli.jpg, Shocking pink, a mix of magenta with a little white, was the signature color of Italian fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli
Elsa Schiaparelli ( , also , ; 10 September 1890 – 13 November 1973) was a fashion designer from an Italian aristocratic background.
She created the house of Schiaparelli in Paris in 1927, which she managed from the 1930s to the 1950s. ...
.
File:Dinner in Honor of Andre Malraux.jpg, Jacqueline Kennedy
Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A po ...
, the wife of President John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
, made pink a popular high-fashion color.
File:Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Movie Trailer Screenshot (34).jpg, Pink combined with black or violet is associated with seduction. Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...
in the trailer for the film '' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'' (1953).
File:Kelly Sullivan at the Oscars.jpg, Pink lipstick
Lipstick is a cosmetic product used to apply coloration and texture to lips, often made of wax and oil. Different pigments are used to produce color, and minerals such as silica may be used to provide texture. The use of lipstick dates back to ...
is thought to attract attention and harmonize with flesh colors, clothes, and fashion accessories.
File:DebrettevillePink.jpg, Detail of "Pink," a poster created by Sheila de Bretteville in 1973. It was meant to explore the notions of gender associated with the color pink for an American Institute of Graphic Arts
The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) is a professional organization for design. Its members practice all forms of communication design, including graphic design, typography, interaction design, user experience, branding and identity. T ...
exhibition about color.
File:Royal Wedding Stockholm 2010-Lejonbacken-012 (cropped).jpg, Queen Silvia of Sweden
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mothe ...
wearing a pink dress and the Pink Topaz Demi-Parure paired with a diamond tiara, 2010
Science and nature
Optics
In optics, the word "pink" can refer to any of the pale shades of colors between
bluish red
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...
to red in hue, of medium to high lightness, and of low to moderate
saturation
Saturation, saturated, unsaturation or unsaturated may refer to:
Chemistry
* Saturation, a property of organic compounds referring to carbon-carbon bonds
**Saturated and unsaturated compounds
** Degree of unsaturation
**Saturated fat or fatty aci ...
. Although pink is generally considered a
tint
In color theory, a tint is a mixture of a color with white, which increases lightness, while a shade is a mixture with black, which increases darkness. Both processes affect the resulting color mixture's relative saturation. A tone is produc ...
of red, the colors of most
tints of pink are slightly bluish, and lie between red and
magenta
Magenta () is a color that is variously defined as pinkish- purplish-red, reddish-purplish-pink or mauvish-crimson. On color wheels of the RGB (additive) and CMY (subtractive) color models, it is located exactly midway between red and blue. I ...
. A few variations of pink, such as salmon color, lean toward orange.
Sunrises and sunsets
As a ray of white sunlight travels through the atmosphere, some of the colors are scattered out of the beam by air molecules and
airborne particles
Particulates – also known as atmospheric aerosol particles, atmospheric particulate matter, particulate matter (PM) or suspended particulate matter (SPM) – are microscopic particles of solid or liquid matter suspended in the air. The te ...
. This is called
Rayleigh scattering
Rayleigh scattering ( ), named after the 19th-century British physicist Lord Rayleigh (John William Strutt), is the predominantly elastic scattering of light or other electromagnetic radiation by particles much smaller than the wavelength of the ...
. Colors with a shorter wavelength, such as blue and green, scatter more strongly, and are removed from the light that finally reaches the eye.
At
sunrise
Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects.
Terminology
Al ...
and
sunset
Sunset, also known as sundown, is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon due to Earth's rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth (except the North and South poles), the equinox Sun sets due west at the moment of both the spring ...
, when the path of the sunlight through the atmosphere to the eye is longest, the blue and green components are removed almost completely, leaving the longer wavelength orange, red and pink light. The remaining pinkish sunlight can also be scattered by cloud droplets and other relatively large particles, which give the sky above the horizon a pink or reddish glow.
File:Sunrise in Southeast Alaska - NOAA.jpg, Sunrise in southeast Alaska. Sunsets and sunrises are sometimes pink because of an optical effect called Rayleigh scattering
Rayleigh scattering ( ), named after the 19th-century British physicist Lord Rayleigh (John William Strutt), is the predominantly elastic scattering of light or other electromagnetic radiation by particles much smaller than the wavelength of the ...
.
File:Sunset in santa monica.jpg, Sunset in Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...
.
Geology
File:Topaz-170679.jpg, Pink topaz
Topaz is a silicate mineral of aluminium and fluorine with the chemical formula Al Si O( F, OH). It is used as a gemstone in jewelry and other adornments. Common topaz in its natural state is colorless, though trace element impurities can mak ...
from Ouro Preto
Ouro Preto (, ''Black Gold''), formerly Vila Rica (, ''Rich Village''), is a city in and former capital of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, a former colonial mining town located in the Serra do Espinhaço mountains and designated a World Herita ...
, Brazil.
File:Corundum-215337.jpg, Corundum
Corundum is a crystalline form of aluminium oxide () typically containing traces of iron, titanium, vanadium and chromium. It is a rock-forming mineral. It is a naturally transparent material, but can have different colors depending on the pres ...
, or pink sapphire, from the Dodoma Region
Dodoma Region (''Mkoa wa Dodoma'' in Swahili language, Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative Regions of Tanzania, regions. The regional capital is the city of Dodoma. The region is located in central Tanzania, it is bordered by Singid ...
of Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
File:Calcite-163756.jpg, Calcite
Calcite is a Carbonate minerals, carbonate mineral and the most stable Polymorphism (materials science), polymorph of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). It is a very common mineral, particularly as a component of limestone. Calcite defines hardness 3 on ...
from Bou Azzer, Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
File:Barite-Rhodochrosite-tcm01a.jpg, Barite
Baryte, barite or barytes ( or ) is a mineral consisting of barium sulfate ( Ba S O4). Baryte is generally white or colorless, and is the main source of the element barium. The ''baryte group'' consists of baryte, celestine (strontium sulfate), ...
-Rhodochrosite
Rhodochrosite is a manganese carbonate mineral with chemical composition MnCO3. In its (rare) pure form, it is typically a rose-red color, but impure specimens can be shades of pink to pale brown. It streaks white, and its Mohs hardness varies bet ...
from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
Guangxi (; ; alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam ( ...
in China.
File:Clinochlore-tuc1030y.jpg, Clinochlore
The chlorites are the group of phyllosilicate minerals common in low-grade metamorphic rocks and in Mineral alteration, altered igneous rocks. Greenschist, formed by metamorphism of basalt or other low-silica volcanic rock, typically contains si ...
from Erzerum Province
Erzurum Province ( tr, Erzurum ili) is a province of Turkey in the Eastern Anatolia Region of the country. The capital of the province is the city of Erzurum. It is bordered by the provinces of Kars and Ağrı to the east, Muş and Bingöl to th ...
, Turkey
File:Raw rose quartz.jpg, alt=Rough rose quartz, Rough rose quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...
File:Quad Riding sand (3662075336).jpg, Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park
Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park is a state park in southwestern Utah, United States, located between Mount Carmel Junction and Kanab, south and west of U.S. Highway 89 in Kane County. The park features uniquely pink-hued sand dunes located b ...
in Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
. The colour is from Navajo Sandstone
The Navajo Sandstone is a geological formation in the Glen Canyon Group that is spread across the U.S. states of southern Nevada, northern Arizona, northwest Colorado, and Utah as part of the Colorado Plateau province of the United States.Anonymou ...
, reddish hematite mixed with white quartz grains
File:Angels Landing 17 (4211104246).jpg, Angel's Landing in Zion National Park
Zion National Park is an American national park located in southwestern Utah near the town of Springdale. Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions, the park has a unique geography and a variety ...
in Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
is made of pink sandstone.
File:Plage de sable rose à Tikehau.JPG, A pink sand beach on Tikehau
Tikehau (meaning ''Peaceful Landing'' in Tuamotuan[Official Tikehau Tourism Site< ...](_blank)
in French Polynesia
)Territorial motto: ( en, "Great Tahiti of the Golden Haze")
, anthem =
, song_type = Regional anthem
, song = " Ia Ora 'O Tahiti Nui"
, image_map = French Polynesia on the globe (French Polynesia centered).svg
, map_alt = Location of Frenc ...
Biology
File:Strigilla carnaria.jpg, A Strigilla carnaria shell from Dominica
Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...
, in the West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...
.
File:Frogfish ocellated.jpg, An Ocelated frogfish (Antennarius ocellatus
The ocellated frogfish, ''Fowlerichthys ocellatus'', is a frogfish of the family Antennariidae, found in the western Atlantic including the eastern portion of the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; fren ...
), from East Timor
East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...
. The frogfish is camouflaged to look like a rock covered with algae or seaweed; it lies motionless and waits for its prey to come to it.
File:Iggy pink.jpg, The pink iguana
''Conolophus marthae'', the Galápagos pink land iguana, is a species of lizard of the family Iguanidae. This critically endangered iguana is native only to the Wolf Volcano in northern Isabela Island of the Galápagos Islands (Ecuador). It ha ...
of the Galapagos Islands was first identified in 1986 and first recognized as a distinct species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
in 2009.
File:Sousa chinensis head.jpg, The Pink Dolphin is a freshwater river dolphin
River dolphins are a polyphyletic group of fully aquatic mammals that reside exclusively in freshwater or brackish water. They are an informal grouping of dolphins, which itself is a paraphyletic group within the infraorder Cetacea. Extant riv ...
which lives in the Orinoco
The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...
, Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
and Araguaia/Tocantins River
The Tocantins River ( pt, Rio Tocantins, link=no , , Parkatêjê dialect, Parkatêjê: ''Pyti'' ɨˈti is a river in Brazil, the central fluvial artery of the country. In the Tupi language, its name means "toucan's beak" (''Tukã'' for "toucan ...
systems of Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, Bolivia
, image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg
, flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center
, flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
, Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal
, national_motto = "Fi ...
, Ecuador
Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...
, Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
and Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
. It is an endangered species
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...
and has a brain 40% larger than a human's.
File:2012-kruger-albino-elephant.jpg, The so-called "white elephant
A white elephant is a possession that its owner cannot dispose of, and whose cost, particularly that of maintenance, is out of proportion to its usefulness. In modern usage, it is a metaphor used to describe an object, construction project, sch ...
" is revered in several countries in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
and is naturally pinkish gray. They are actually albino
Albinism is the congenital absence of melanin in an animal or plant resulting in white hair, feathers, scales and skin and pink or blue eyes. Individuals with the condition are referred to as albino.
Varied use and interpretation of the term ...
elephants.
File:Sow with piglet.jpg, The pig
The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus ...
has been domesticated over ten thousand years and selectively bred to have a pink skin, without melanin
Melanin (; from el, μέλας, melas, black, dark) is a broad term for a group of natural pigments found in most organisms. Eumelanin is produced through a multistage chemical process known as melanogenesis, where the oxidation of the amino ...
, which farmers traditionally have preferred to a dark color.
File:Flamingos Laguna Colorada.jpg, Flamingo
Flamingos or flamingoes are a type of Wader, wading bird in the Family (biology), family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas ...
es in Laguna Colorada
__NOTOC__
Laguna Colorada (''Red Lagoon'') is a shallow salt lake in the southwest of the altiplano of Bolivia, within Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve and close to the border with Chile.
Contents
The lake contains borax islands, ...
, Bolivia
, image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg
, flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center
, flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
. The pink or reddish color of flamingos comes from carotenoid
Carotenoids (), also called tetraterpenoids, are yellow, orange, and red organic compound, organic pigments that are produced by plants and algae, as well as several bacteria, and Fungus, fungi. Carotenoids give the characteristic color to pumpki ...
proteins in their diet of animal and plant plankton
Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) that are unable to propel themselves against a Ocean current, current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankt ...
. An unhealthy or malnourished flamingo, or one kept in captivity and not fed sufficient carotene, is usually pale or white.
File:Roseate Spoonbill - Myakka River State Park.jpg, A Roseate spoonbill
The roseate spoonbill (''Platalea ajaja'') is a gregarious wading bird of the ibis and spoonbill family, Threskiornithidae. It is a resident breeder in both South and North America.
Taxonomy
The roseate spoonbill is sometimes placed in its own ...
in Myakka River State Park
Myakka River State Park is a Florida State Park, that is located east of Interstate 75 in Sarasota County and a portion of southeastern Manatee County on the Atlantic coastal plain. This state park consists of , making it one of the state's ...
in Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. Its pink color, like that of the flamingo, comes from the carotenoid
Carotenoids (), also called tetraterpenoids, are yellow, orange, and red organic compound, organic pigments that are produced by plants and algae, as well as several bacteria, and Fungus, fungi. Carotenoids give the characteristic color to pumpki ...
pigments in its diet.
File:Lophochroa leadbeateri -Palmitos Park, Gran Canaria, Spain -mating-8a.jpg, The Lophochroa leadbeateri
Major Mitchell's cockatoo (''Lophochroa leadbeateri''), also known as Leadbeater's cockatoo or the pink cockatoo, is a medium-sized cockatoo that inhabits arid and semi-arid inland areas of Australia, though it is seen regularly in other clima ...
, commonly known as Major Mitchell's Cockatoo or the pink cockatoo, is a native of the arid interior regions of Australia.
File:Lake Hillier 2 Middle Island Recherche Archipelago NR IV-2011.JPG, Lake Hillier
Lake Hillier is a saline lake on the edge of Middle Island, the largest of the islands and islets that make up the Recherche Archipelago in the Goldfields-Esperance region, off the south coast of Western Australia. It is particularly notable ...
, Australia, the colour is caused by algae
Pink coloration of meat and seafood
Raw
beef
Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus'').
In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantity ...
is red, because the muscles of
vertebrate
Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, ...
animals, such as cows and pigs, contain a
protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...
called
myoglobin
Myoglobin (symbol Mb or MB) is an iron- and oxygen-binding protein found in the cardiac and skeletal muscle tissue of vertebrates in general and in almost all mammals. Myoglobin is distantly related to hemoglobin. Compared to hemoglobin, myoglobi ...
, which binds oxygen and
iron
Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...
atoms. When beef is cooked, the myoglobin proteins undergo oxidation, and gradually turn from red to pink to brown; that is, from rare to medium to well-done. Pork contains less myoglobin than beef and therefore is less red; when heated, it changes from pinkish-red to less pink to tan or white.
Ham
Ham is pork from a leg cut of pork, cut that has been food preservation, preserved by wet or dry Curing (food preservation), curing, with or without smoking (cooking), smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. Lo ...
, though it contains myoglobins like beef, undergoes a different transformation. Traditional hams, such as
prosciutto
''Prosciutto crudo'', in English often shortened to prosciutto ( , ), is Italian uncooked, unsmoked, and dry-cured ham. ''Prosciutto crudo'' is usually served thinly sliced.
Several regions in Italy have their own variations of ''prosciutto crudo ...
, are made by taking the hind leg or thigh of a pig, covering it with sea salt, which removes the moisture content, and then letting it dry or cure for as long as two years. The salt (
sodium nitrate
Sodium nitrate is the chemical compound with the formula . This alkali metal nitrate salt is also known as Chile saltpeter (large deposits of which were historically mined in Chile) to distinguish it from ordinary saltpeter, potassium nitrate. T ...
) permits the ham to retain its original pink color, even when dried out. Supermarket hams are made by a different and faster process; they are brined, or infused with a salt-water solution, containing
sodium nitrite
Sodium nitrite is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula NaNO2. It is a white to slightly yellowish crystalline powder that is very soluble in water and is hygroscopic. From an industrial perspective, it is the most important nitrite ...
, which transfers
nitric oxide
Nitric oxide (nitrogen oxide or nitrogen monoxide) is a colorless gas with the formula . It is one of the principal oxides of nitrogen. Nitric oxide is a free radical: it has an unpaired electron, which is sometimes denoted by a dot in its che ...
, which bonds with the myoglobin to form the traditional pink cured ham color.
The shells and flesh of
crustacean
Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...
s such as
crab
Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...
s,
lobster
Lobsters are a family (biology), family (Nephropidae, Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs ...
s and
shrimp
Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are refer ...
contain a pink
carotenoid
Carotenoids (), also called tetraterpenoids, are yellow, orange, and red organic compound, organic pigments that are produced by plants and algae, as well as several bacteria, and Fungus, fungi. Carotenoids give the characteristic color to pumpki ...
pigment called
astaxanthin
Astaxanthin is a keto- carotenoid within a group of chemical compounds known as terpenes. Astaxanthin is a metabolite of zeaxanthin and canthaxanthin, containing both hydroxyl and ketone functional groups. It is a lipid-soluble pigment with r ...
. Their shells, naturally blue-green, turn pink or red when cooked. The flesh of the
salmon
Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...
also contains astaxanthin, which makes it pink. Farm-bred salmon are sometimes fed these pigments to improve their pinkness, and it is sometimes also used to enhance the color of
egg yolk
Among animals which produce eggs, the yolk (; also known as the vitellus) is the nutrient-bearing portion of the egg whose primary function is to supply food for the development of the embryo. Some types of egg contain no yolk, for example bec ...
s.
File:Rostas (ready and served).JPG, Roast beef
Roast beef is a dish of beef that is roasted, generally served as the main dish of a meal. In the Anglosphere, roast beef is one of the meats often served at Sunday lunch or dinner. Yorkshire pudding is a standard side dish. Sliced roast beef ...
gets its distinctive pink color from myoglobin
Myoglobin (symbol Mb or MB) is an iron- and oxygen-binding protein found in the cardiac and skeletal muscle tissue of vertebrates in general and in almost all mammals. Myoglobin is distantly related to hemoglobin. Compared to hemoglobin, myoglobi ...
, which gradually turns from red to pink to brown (rare to medium to well-done) when heated.
File:Prosciutto.jpg, Prosciutto hams also get their pink color from salt combined with the natural protein called myoglobin
Myoglobin (symbol Mb or MB) is an iron- and oxygen-binding protein found in the cardiac and skeletal muscle tissue of vertebrates in general and in almost all mammals. Myoglobin is distantly related to hemoglobin. Compared to hemoglobin, myoglobi ...
.
File:Shelled northern shrimp.jpg, The shells and flesh of steamed shrimp
Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are refer ...
contain a natural carotenoid
Carotenoids (), also called tetraterpenoids, are yellow, orange, and red organic compound, organic pigments that are produced by plants and algae, as well as several bacteria, and Fungus, fungi. Carotenoids give the characteristic color to pumpki ...
pigment called astaxanthin
Astaxanthin is a keto- carotenoid within a group of chemical compounds known as terpenes. Astaxanthin is a metabolite of zeaxanthin and canthaxanthin, containing both hydroxyl and ketone functional groups. It is a lipid-soluble pigment with r ...
, which turns pink when heated. The same process turns cooked lobster and crab from blue-green to red when they are boiled.
File:Asparagus with salmon.jpg, The meat of the salmon
Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...
is also colored pink by the natural carotenoid
Carotenoids (), also called tetraterpenoids, are yellow, orange, and red organic compound, organic pigments that are produced by plants and algae, as well as several bacteria, and Fungus, fungi. Carotenoids give the characteristic color to pumpki ...
pigment called astaxanthin
Astaxanthin is a keto- carotenoid within a group of chemical compounds known as terpenes. Astaxanthin is a metabolite of zeaxanthin and canthaxanthin, containing both hydroxyl and ketone functional groups. It is a lipid-soluble pigment with r ...
.
Plants and flowers
Pink is one of the most common colors of flowers; it serves to attract the insects and birds necessary for pollination and perhaps also to deter predators. The color comes from natural pigments called anthocyanins, which also provide the pink in raspberries.
Pink_Rose_In_The_Rain_(216504571).jpg, A pink rose
A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...
in the rain.
Clematite_chantily_01.JPG, A clematis Chantilly.
Flickr_-_brewbooks_-_Pink_Hibiscus_-_Brisbane_(1).jpg, A pink hibiscus from Australia.
Tulip cv. 26.JPG, Pink tulips in the botanical gardens of Moscow State University.
Dahlia_-_%22Gilt_Edge%22_cultivar.jpg, A pink dahlia
Gemeine_Pfingstrose.JPG, A pink peony.
Magnolia 'Susan' 03.JPG, A flower of a magnolia tree
Rhododendron_catawbiense_01.JPG, A pink rhododendron
Spiraea_japonica_Alpina3.jpg, ''Spiraea japonica'' flowers.
Cerisier_du_Japon_Prunus_serrulata.jpg, A Japanese cherry tree (''Prunus serrulata'') in bloom.
Hyazinthen.JPG, Pink hyacinth (plant), hyacinth flowers
Phlox paniculata.jpg, ''Phlox paniculata''
Pigments - Pinke
In the 17th century, the word ''pink'' or ''pinke'' was also used to describe a yellowish pigment, which was mixed with blue colors to yield greenish colors. Thomas Jenner (publisher), Thomas Jenner's ''A Book of Drawing, Limning, Washing'' (1652) categorises "Pink & Blue, blew bice" amongst the greens (p. 38), and specifies several admixtures of greenish colors made with pink—e.g. "Grasse-green is made of Pink and Bice, it is shadowed with Indigo and Pink … French-green of Pink and Indico [shadowed with] Indico" (pp. 38–40). In William Salmon's ''Polygraphice'' (1673), "Pink yellow" is mentioned amongst the chief yellow pigments (p. 96), and the reader is instructed to mix it with either Saffron (color), Saffron or Venetian ceruse, Ceruse for "sad" or "light" shades thereof, respectively.
Sonics
* Pink noise (), also known as 1/f noise, in audio engineering is a signal or process with a frequency spectrum such that the power spectral density is proportional to the reciprocal of the frequency.
Lighting
*Grow lights often use a combination of red and blue wavelengths, which generally appear pink to the human eye.
*Pink neon signs are generally produced using one of two different methods. One method is to use neon gas and a blue or purple phosphor, which generally produces a warmer (more reddish) or more intense shade of pink. Another method is to use an argon/mercury blend and a red phosphor, which generally produces a cooler (more purplish) or softer shade of pink.
*Pink LEDs can be produced using two methods, either with a blue LED using two phosphors (yellow for the first phosphor, and red, orange, or pink for the second), or by placing a pink dye on top of a white LED. Color shifting was a common issue with early pink LEDs, where the red, orange, or pink phosphors or dyes faded over time, causing the pink color to eventually shift towards white or blue. These issues have been mitigated by the more recent introduction of more fade-resistant phosphors.
Engineering
*Insulation manufactured by Owens Corning is dyed pink, with the Pink Panther (character), Pink Panther as its corporate mascot. The company holds a trademark on the color pink for insulation products in order to prevent competitors from using it, and is the first company in the United States to trademark a color.
*The United States Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices specifies fluorescent pink as an optional color for traffic signs used for incident management as an alternative to the traditional orange in order to distinguish them from construction zone signs.
In symbolism and culture
Common associations and popularity
According to public opinion surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most associated with charm, politeness, sensitivity, tenderness, sweetness, softness, childhood, the feminine, and the romantic. Although it did not have any strong negative associations in these surveys, few respondents chose pink as their favorite color. Pink was the favorite color of only two percent of respondents. There was a notable difference between men and women in regards to a preference for pink; three percent of women chose pink as their favorite color, compared with less than one percent of men. Many of the men surveyed were unable to even identify pink correctly, confusing it with mauve. Pink was also more popular with older people than younger.
In Japan, pink is the color most commonly associated with spring (season), springtime due to the blooming cherry blossoms. This is different from surveys in the United States and Europe where green is the color most associated with springtime.
Pink in other languages
In many languages, the word for the color pink is based on the name of the
rose
A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...
flower; like ''rose'' in French; ''roze'' in Dutch; ''rosa'' in German, Latin, Portuguese, Catalan, Spanish, Italian, Swedish and Norwegian (Nynorsk and Bokmål); ''rozovyy/розовый'' in Russian; ''różowy'' in Polish; ורוד (''varód'') in Hebrew; গোলাপি (''golapi'') in Bangla; and गुलाबी (''gulābee'') in Hindi. In English "rose", too, often refers to both the flower and the color.
In Danish, Faroese and Finnish, the color pink is described as a lighter shade of red: ''lyserød'' in Danish, ''ljósareyður'' in Faroese and ''vaaleanpunainen'' in Finnish, all meaning "light red". Similarly, some Celtic languages use a term meaning "whitish red": ''gwynnrudh'' in Cornish, ''bándearg'' in Irish, ''bane-yiarg'' in Manx, ''bàn-dhearg'' in Scottish Gaelic (which also uses ''liath-dhearg'' "greyish/pale red" and ''pinc'' from English). In Icelandic, the color is called ''bleikur'', originally meaning "pale".
In the Japanese language, the traditional word for pink, , takes its name from the peach blossom. There is a separate word for the color of the cherry blossom: ''sakura-iro''. In recent times a word based on the English version, , has begun to be used.
In Chinese, the color pink is named with a compound noun 粉紅色, meaning "powder red" where the powder refers to substances used for women's make-up.
The Thai word for the color, ชมพู (''chom-puu''), derives ultimately from Sanskrit जम्बू (''jambū'') "Syzygium, rose apple".
Idioms and expressions
* In the pink. To be in top form, in good health, in good condition. In Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio says; "I am the very pink of courtesy." Romeo: Pink for flower? Mercutio: Right. Romeo: Then my pump is well flowered."
* To see pink elephants means to hallucinate from alcoholism. The expression was used by American novelist Jack London in his book ''John Barleycorn (novel), John Barleycorn'' in 1913.
* Pink slip (employment), Pink slip. To be given a pink slip means to be fired or dismissed from a job. It was first recorded in 1915 in the United States.
* The phrase "pink-collar worker" refers to persons working in jobs conventionally regarded as "women's work".
* Pink money, ''the pink pound'' or ''pink dollar'' is an economic term which refers to the spending power of the LGBT community. Advertising agencies sometimes call the gay market the ''pink economy''.
* Tickled pink means extremely pleased.
Architecture
Early pink buildings were usually built of brick or sandstone, which takes its pale red color from hematite, or iron ore. In the 18th century - the golden age of pink and other pastel colors - pink mansions and churches were built all across Europe. More modern pink buildings usually use the color pink to appear exotic or to attract attention.
File:2018-10-19 Buenos Aires by Sandro Halank–002.jpg, Casa Rosada, or the "Pink House", in Buenos Aires, built between 1713 and 1855 as a fort and then customs house, is the official residence and office of the President of Argentina.
File:Vääksy - Vesijärventie 1.jpg, A pink building in Vääksy, Asikkala, Finland.
File:Kannur City Centre, Kerala, India.jpg, The City Center in Kannur, India.
File:Ostankino Palace (4325331247).jpg, Ostankino Palace, outside of Moscow, is an 18th-century country house built by Pyotr Sheremetev, then the richest man in Russia.
File:Macau Government Headquarters 01.JPG, Macau Government Headquarters (1849), an example of Portuguese colonial architecture and the Pombaline style in Macau.
File:Royal Hawaiian Hotel seen from the sea.jpg, The Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii, built in 1927, was the first hotel on Waikiki Beach. Its pink color was designed to match an exotic setting, and to contrast with the blue of the sea and green of the landscape.
File:Interesting Building Angle of Georgia-Pacific Tower Atlanta.jpg, The Georgia-Pacific Tower in Atlanta, Georgia (1981), a modernist pink skyscraper.
File:Canada Place Building Edmonton.jpg, Canada Place (Edmonton), Canada Place Building, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (1988) a post-modernist style government office building.
File:USBancorpTowerI5k.jpg, "big Pink" The US Bancorp Tower in Portland, Oregon pink granite and windows(ground breaking 1981 dedicated 1983)
File:Norfolk Royale Hotel - geograph.org.uk - 16384.jpg, The Norfolk Royale Hotel in Bournemouth, England was built between 1840 and 1850.
File:BahamianParliamentPanorama.jpg, The Bahamian Parliament Building was built in 1815.
File:삼풍백화점.jpg, The Sampoong Department Store collapse in Seoul, South Korea (1987 to 1995)
Food and beverages
According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most associated with sweet foods and beverages. Pink is also one of the few colors to be strongly associated with a particular aroma, that of roses. Many strawberry and raspberry-flavored foods are colored pink and light red as well, sometimes to distinguish them from cherry-flavored foods that are more commonly colored dark red (although raspberry-flavored foods, particularly in the United States, are often colored blue as well). The drink Tab (soft drink), Tab was packaged in pink cans, presumably to subconsciously convey a sweet taste.
The pink color in most packaged and processed foods, ice creams, candies and pastries is made with artificial food coloring. The most common pink food coloring is erythrosine, also known as Red No. 3, an organoiodine compound, a derivative of fluorone, which is a cherry-pink synthetic.
[Phyllis A. Lyday "Iodine and Iodine Compounds" in Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, 2005, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim] It is usually listed on package labels as E-127. Another common red or pink (particularly in the United States where erythrosine is less frequently used) is Allura Red AC (E-129), also known as Red No. 40. Some products use a natural red or pink food coloring, Cochineal, also called carmine, made with crushed insects of the family Dactylopius coccus.
File:Choco pink.jpg, Pink is the color most commonly associated with sweet tastes
File:Strawberry Ice Cream Cone (5076899310).jpg, A strawberry ice cream cone
File:Pink Cotton Candy.jpg, Cotton candy
File:Macarons filled with raspberries at Lawry's The Prime Rib, Mandarin Orchard Singapore - 20100309.jpg, A macaron with raspberries
File:Bunga Kuda.jpg, Bunga kuda (also known as bunga pundak) is a traditional dessert in Malaysia, containing a coconut filling
File:Chi chi dango.jpg, Chi chi dango is a sweet dessert made of rice flour. It is of Japanese origin, and very popular in Hawaii
File:Bandol rose.jpg, Traditional rosé wines get their color when temporarily fermented with dark purple grapeskins
File:Rose Champagne Bubbles.jpg, Pink champagne takes its color either when temporarily fermented with the skins of dark purple grapes, or by adding a small amount of red wine
Gender
![ANAB767300Restroomsign](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/ANAB767300Restroomsign.jpg)
In Europe and the United States, pink is often associated with girls, while blue is associated with boys. These colors were first used as gender signifiers just prior to World War I (for either girls or boys), and pink was first established as a female gender signifier in the 1940s. In the 20th century, the practice in Europe varied from country to country, with some assigning colors based on the baby's complexion, and others assigning pink sometimes to boys and sometimes to girls.
Many have noted the contrary association of pink with boys in 20th-century America. An article in the trade publication ''Earnshaw's Infants' Department'' in June 1918 said:
One reason for the increased use of pink for girls and blue for boys was the invention of new chemical dyes, which meant that children's clothing could be mass-produced and washed in hot water without fading. Prior to this time, most small children of both sexes wore white, which could be frequently washed. Another factor was the popularity of blue and white sailor suits for young boys, a fashion that started in the late 19th century. Blue was also the usual color of school uniforms, for boys and girls. Blue was associated with seriousness and study, while pink was associated with childhood and softness.
By the 1950s, pink was strongly associated with femininity but to an extent that was "neither rigid nor universal" as it later became.
One study by two neuroscientists in ''Current Biology'' examined color preferences across British and Chinese cultures and found significant differences between male and female responses. Both groups favored blues over other hues, but women had more favorable responses to the reddish-purple range of the spectrum and men had more favorable responses to the greenish-yellow middle of the spectrum. Despite the fact that the study used adults in mainstream cultures, and both groups preferred blues, and responses to the color ''pink'' were never even tested, the popular press represented the research as an indication of an innate preference by girls for pink. The misreading has been often repeated in market research, reinforcing American culture's association of pink with girls on the basis of imagined innate characteristics.
As of 2008 various feminist groups and the Breast Cancer Awareness Month use the color pink to convey empowerment of women.
[Pink: The Color]
" "Part 2: Girl Culture A to Z" - In: Mitchell, Claudia and Jacqueline Reid-Walsh (editors). ''Girl Culture: Studying girl culture : a readers' guide'' or ''Girl Culture: An Encyclopedia Volume 1''. ABC-CLIO (Greenwood Publishing Group), 2008. , 9780313339097. p
473
"It is important to note its significance to femininity as a Western phenomenon, because the color is a sign of masculinity in Japan and signifies a welcome embrace in India.[...]of pink with femininity has been strategically used in gendered terms to convey strength and pride: pink is the color of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and many feminist groups have adopted the color pink as a sign of empowerment."
See Google Books search result
/ref> Breast cancer charities around the world have used the color to symbolize support for people with breast cancer and promote awareness of the disease. A key tactic of these charities is encouraging women and men to wear pink to show their support for breast cancer awareness and research.
Pink has symbolized a "welcome embrace" in India and masculinity in Japan.[
File:Female baby.jpg, In the United States and Europe, baby girls are often dressed in pink and white.
File:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Sailor Boy (Portrait of Robert Nunès) - BF325 - Barnes Foundation.jpg, Boy in a sailor suit (1883). The blue sailor suit helped make blue instead of pink the color for boys in the 20th century.
File:Shriya Saran bridal week 2010.png, Indian actress Shriya Saran. In many cultures, pink is associated with femininity.
File:Herero women.jpg, Women of the Herero people from Namibia. Pink stands out.
File:Three Nuns in Pink (8398117658).jpg, Three nuns in pink in Yangon, Burma.
File:"Gender reveal" cake cut open.jpg, A cake with a pink middle layer indicating a baby girl at a gender reveal party
]
Toys
Toys aimed at girls often display pink prominently on packaging and the toy themselves. This is a relatively recent trend, with toys from the 1920s to the 1960s not being gendered by color (though they were gendered by a focus on domesticity and nurturing). The current color-based gendering of toys can be traced back to the deregulation of children's television programs. This allowed toy companies to produce shows that were designed specifically to sell their products, and gender was an important differentiator of these shows and the toys they were advertising.
In its 1957 catalog, Lionel Trains offered for sale a pink model freight train for girls. The steam locomotive and coal car were pink and the freight cars of the freight train were various Pastel (color), pastel colors. The caboose was baby blue. It was a marketing failure because any girl who might want a model train would want a realistically colored train, while boys in the 1950s did not want to be seen playing with a pink train. However, today it is a valuable collector's item.
Sexuality
As noted above, pink combined with black or violet is commonly associated with eroticism and seduction.
* In street slang, ''the pink'' sometimes refers to the vagina.
* In Russian, pink (''розовый'', ''rozovyj'') is used to refer to lesbians, and light blue (''голубой'', ''goluboj'') refers to gay men.
* In Japan, a genre of low budget, erotic cinema is referred to as .
* In India, Pink coloured turbans are worn at Hindu weddings.
Politics
* Pink, being a 'watered-down' red, is sometimes used in a derogatory way to describe a person with mild communism, communist or socialism, socialist beliefs (see Pinko).
* The term ''little pink'' (小粉红) is used to describe the young nationalists on the internet in Mainland China.
* The term ''pink revolution'' is sometimes used to refer to the overthrow of President Askar Akayev and his government in the Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan after the Kyrgyz parliamentary elections, 2005, parliamentary elections of February 27 and March 13, 2005, although it is more commonly called the ''Tulip Revolution''.
* The Swedish feminist party Feminist Initiative (Sweden), Feminist Initiative uses pink as their color.
* Code Pink is an American women's anti-globalization and anti-war group founded in 2002 by activist Medea Benjamin. The group has disrupted Congressional hearings and heckled President Obama at his public speeches.
*The TRS party of Telangana, India has pink as its primary color
*It was a common practice to color the British Empire pink on maps.
*Supporters of Philippine Presidential candidate and former Vice President of the Philippines, Vice President Leni Robredo used pink to show their solidarity with her in her Leni Robredo 2022 presidential campaign, 2022 presidential campaign.
Social movements
Pink is often used as a symbolic color by groups involved in issues important to women, as well as to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
* A Dutch newsgroup about homosexuality is called ''nl.roze'' (''roze'' being the Dutch word for pink), while in Britain, Pink News is a gay newspaper and online news service. There is a magazine called ''Pink'' for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community which has different editions for various metropolitan areas. In France Pink TV (France), Pink TV is an LGBT cable channel.
* In Ireland, Support group for Irish ''Pink'' Adoptions defines a ''pink'' family as a relatively neutral umbrella term for the single gay men, single lesbians, or same-gender couples who intend to adopt, are in the process of adopting, or have adopted. It also covers adults born/raised in such families. The group welcome the input of other people touched by adoption, especially people who were adopted as children and are now adults.
* Pinkstinks, a campaign founded in London in May 2008 to raise awareness of what they claim is the damage caused by gender stereotyping of children.
* The Pink Pistols is a gay Gun politics in the United States, gun rights organization.
* The pink ribbon is the international symbol of breast cancer awareness. Pink was chosen partially because it is so strongly associated with femininity.
File:Pink ribbon.svg, The pink ribbon has been a symbol of breast cancer awareness since 1991.
File:P20171001MC-0035 (36802991953).jpg, The White House illuminated in pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Academic dress
* In the French academic dress system, the five traditional fields of study (Arts, Science, Medicine, Law and Divinity) are each symbolized by a distinctive color, which appears in the academic dress of the people who graduated in this field. Redcurrant, an extremely red shade of pink, is the distinctive color for Medicine (and other health-related fields) :fr:Groseille (couleur).
Heraldry
The word pink is not used for any tincture (color) in heraldry, but there are two fairly uncommon tinctures which are both close to pink:
* The heraldic color of rose (heraldic tincture), rose is a modern innovation, mostly used in Canadian heraldry, depicting a reddish pink color like the shade usually called rose (color), rose.
* In French heraldry, the color carnation (heraldry), carnation is sometimes used, corresponding to the skin color of a light skinned Caucasian human. This can also be seen as a pink shade but is usually depicted slightly more brownish beige than the rose tincture.
Calendars
* In Thailand, pink is associated with Tuesday on the Thai solar calendar. Anyone may wear pink on Tuesdays, and anyone born on a Tuesday may adopt pink as their color.
The press
Pink is used for the newsprint paper of several important newspapers devoted to business and sports, and the color is also connected with the press aimed at the gay community.
Since 1893 the London ''Financial Times'' newspaper has used a distinctive salmon pink color for its newsprint, originally because pink dyed paper was less expensive than bleached white paper. Today the color is used to distinguish the newspaper from competitors on a press kiosk or news stand. In some countries, the ''salmon press'' identifies economic newspapers or economics sections in "white" newspapers. Some sports newspapers, such as ''La Gazzetta dello Sport'' in Italy, also use pink paper to stand out from other newspapers. It awards a pink jersey to the winner of Italy's most important bicycle race, the Giro d'Italia. (See #Sports).
Law
* In England and Wales, a Brief (law), brief delivered to a barrister by a solicitor is usually tied with pink ribbon. Pink was traditionally the color associated with the defense, while white ribbons may have been used for the prosecution.
Literature
* In Spanish and Italian, a romantic novel is known as a "pink novel" (''novela rosa'' in Spanish, ''romanzo rosa'' in Italian).
* In Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1835 short story, Young Goodman Brown, Faith is wearing a pink ribbon in her hair which represents her innocence.
* Carl Surely's short story "Dinsdale's Pink" is a coming of age tale of a young man growing up in Berlin in the 1930s, dealing with issues of gender, sexuality and politics.
* In Louisa May Alcott’s 1868-69 book ''Little Women'', Amy March uses blue and pink ribbons to tell the difference between her sister Meg's newborn twins.
Religion
* In the Yoga, Yogic Hindu, Shakta, Shaktic Hindu and Tantric Buddhist traditions rose is one of the colors of the fourth primary energy center, the Chakra points cords and cores, heart chakra Anahata. The other color is green.
* In Catholicism, pink (called rose (color), rose by the Catholic Church) symbolizes joy and happiness. It is used for the Third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday) and the Fourth Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday) to mark the halfway point in these seasons of penance. For this reason, one of the candles in an Advent wreath may be pink, rather than purple.
* Pink is the color most associated with Indian spiritual leader Meher Baba, who often wore pink coats to please his closest female follower, Mehera Irani, and today pink remains an important color, symbolizing love, to Baba's followers.
*In Paganism, it represents affection, friendship, companionship, and spiritual healing. It is often used for love spells.
Sports
* U.S. Città di Palermo, Palermo, a soccer team based in Palermo, Italy, traditionally wears pink home jerseys.
* Cerezo Osaka, a soccer team based in Osaka, Japan, typically wears pink home shirts. ''Cerezo'' is the spanish translation for cherry tree, which are known for its pink blossoms.
* Inter Miami, a soccer team based in South Florida, USA, features pink home shirts. The club wore white home shirts in its first two seasons in existence.
* In Major League Baseball, pink bats are used by baseball players on Mother's Day as part of a week-long program to benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
* Pink can mean the Scarlet (color), scarlet coat worn in fox hunting (a.k.a. "riding to hounds"). One legend about the origin of this meaning refers to a tailor named Pink (or Pinke, or Pinque).
* The leader in the Giro d'Italia road bicycle racing, cycle race wears a pink jersey (''maglia rosa''); this reflects the distinctive pink-colored newsprint of the sponsoring Italian ''La Gazzetta dello Sport'' newspaper.
* The University of Iowa's Kinnick Stadium visitors' locker room is painted pink. The decor has sparked controversy, perceived by some people as suggesting sexism and homophobia.
* WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart, as well as other members of the Hart wrestling family, is known for his pink and black wrestling attire.
* The Western Hockey League team Calgary Hitmen originally wore pink as a tribute to the aforementioned Bret Hart, who was a part team owner at the time.
* Snooker uses a pink-coloured object ball that is worth 6pts when legally potted.
* Formula One constructors Force India and Racing Point F1 Team, Racing Point used pink as the primary color on their cars during the 2017–2020 seasons. At the 2017 United States Grand Prix, the purple side-wall branding on the ultra-soft compound tire was replaced by pink for the race to raise awareness of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Several teams also incorporated pink into their liveries to support the cause (except Force India, whose cars were pink to begin with).
* To distinguish tuned performance models from ordinary ones, Subaru uses a badge with a pink background on their cars. Also the logo of their motorsports arm Subaru Tecnica International is colored pink.
* The NFL among other sports have incorporated pink into their promotions, team uniforms and equipment during the month of October in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Music
* The names of the music artists Pink Floyd, Pink (singer), Pink, Momoiro Clover Z and Blackpink use the color as an influence.
See also
* Fuchsia (color)
* Lists of colors
* Pinkstinks
* Rosé, a wine whose color is between red and white
* Shades of pink
References
Further reading
*
*
* Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Think Pink, 2014
Exhibition Link
* Susan Stamberg/NPR, "Girls Are Taught To 'Think Pink,' But That Wasn't Always So, 2014
Story link.
Notes and citations
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
Tertiary colors
Quaternary colors
Shades of pink,