Taupe ( ) is a dark

gray Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...

brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model us ...

color. The word derives from the French noun ''taupe'' meaning "

mole Mole (or Molé) may refer to: Animals * Mole (animal) or "true mole", mammals in the family Talpidae, found in Eurasia and North America * Golden moles, southern African mammals in the family Chrysochloridae, similar to but unrelated to Talpida ...

". The name originally referred only to the average color of the French mole, but beginning in the 1940s, its usage expanded to encompass a wider range of shades. Taupe is a vague color term which may refer to almost any grayish brown or brownish gray, but true taupe is difficult to pinpoint as brown or gray. According to the ''Dictionary of Color'', the first use of "taupe" as a color name in English was in the early 19th century; but the earliest citation recorded by the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a co ...

'' is from 1911. In 1846 it was claimed that "All shades of grey are fashionable en neglige, particularly pearl grey, iron grey, and taupe."

Description

Taupe colors fall into a range from dark

tan Tan or TAN may refer to: Businesses and organisations * Black and Tans, a nickname for British special constables during the Irish War of Independence. By extension "Tans" can now also colloquially refer to English or British people in general, es ...

to grayish brown or brownish gray. The word derives from the French noun ''taupe'', which in turn is from 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 ...

''talpa'', both meaning "

" (the mammal). The name originally referred only to the average

color Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are assoc ...

of the French mole, but (as in the case of the colors

pink 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, ...

and

lavender ''Lavandula'' (common name lavender) is a genus of 47 known species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to the Old World and is found in Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, and from Europe across to northern and easte ...

), beginning in the 1940s, its usage expanded to encompass a wider range of shades. Taupe is a vague color term which may refer to almost any grayish-brown, brownish-gray, or warm gray color. It often overlaps with tan and even people who use color professionally (such as

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

s and artists) frequently disagree as to what "taupe" means. Taupe itself, however, is not directly correlated with such colors as purple or pink. There is no single, generally recognized authority for such terms, but the addition of such colors can create a wider variety of shades which can benefit either art. When viewed on a precisely calibrated monitor, the color displayed above-right matches the color sample called taupe referenced in the 1930 book ''A Dictionary of Color'', the world standard for color terms before the invention of computers. However, the word ''taupe'' may often be used to refer to lighter shades of taupe today, and therefore another name for this color is dark taupe. According to the ''Dictionary of Color'', the first use of "taupe" as a color name in English was in the early 19th century; but the earliest citation recorded by the ''

'' is from 1911. The normalized color coordinates for taupe are identical to dark lava, which was formalized as a color name in the

ISCC–NBS system The ISCC–NBS System of Color Designation is a system for naming colors based on a set of 13 basic color terms and a small set of adjective modifiers. It was first established in the 1930s by a joint effort of the Inter-Society Color Council (ISC ...

in 1955.

Variations of taupe

Pale taupe (mouse)

The first recorded use of ''mouse'' as a color name in

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 ide ...

was in 1606.

Light taupe

Light taupe (dark tan) is the light tone of taupe that is the color called ''taupe'' in

Crayola Crayola LLC, formerly the Binney & Smith Company, is an American manufacturing company specializing in art supplies. It is known for its brand ''Crayola'' and best known for its crayons. The company is headquartered in Forks Township, Pennsylva ...

colored pencils.

Mauve taupe

At right is displayed the color mauve taupe. The first recorded use of ''mauve taupe'' as a color name in

was in 1925. The normalized color coordinates for raspberry glacé are identical to raspberry glacé, first recorded as a color name in English in 1926.

Rose taupe

The color displayed at right is rose taupe. The first recorded use of rose taupe as a color name in

was in 1924.

Sandy taupe

At right is displayed the color sandy taupe. This color is also called ''taupe sand''.

Taupe gray

Displayed at right is the color taupe gray.

Deep taupe

The color deep taupe is displayed at right. The source of this color is the "

Pantone Pantone LLC (stylized as PANTONE) is a limited liability company headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey. The company is best known for its Pantone Matching System (PMS), a proprietary color space used in a variety of industries, notably graphi ...

Textile Paper eXtended (TPX)" color list, color #18-1612 TPX—Deep Taupe.

Taupe brown

The color taupe brown is a very dark shade of tan that almost appears brown and is displayed at right. This is the color shown as the color ''taupe brown'' in ISCC-NBS color sample #46. Another name for this color is medium taupe.

References

External links

ISCC-NBS Dictionary of Color Names (1955)—Color dictionary used by stamp collectors to identify the colors of stamps—See samples of the various tones of Taupe displayed on the indicated page.Learn What Taupe Color is and How You Should Actually Use ItArchitect Anton Giuroiu

Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism The Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urban Planning ( ro, Universitatea de Arhitectură şi Urbanism "Ion Mincu" din București) is a public university for architectural and urbanism studies in Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, Bucureș ...

, Bucharest, Romania {{Shades of brown Shades of brown Shades of gray Shades of black