Orchid is a bright rich

purple Purple is any of a variety of colors with hue between red and blue. In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, purples are produced by mixing red and blue light. In the RYB color model historically used by painters, ...

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 ...

that resembles the color which various

orchids Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

often exhibit. Various tones of ''orchid'' may range from grayish purple to purplish-pink to strong reddish purple. The first recorded use of ''orchid'' as a color name in English was in 1915. In 1987, orchid was included as one of the X11 colors. After the invention of the

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web ...

in 1991, these became known as the X11 web colors.

Derivation

The name originates from the flowers of some species of the vast orchid family (

Orchidaceae Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

), such as '' Laelia furfuracea'' and ''Ascocentrum pusillum'', which have petals of this color. The word ''Orchid'' derives from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

word ''orchis'' which means

testicle A testicle or testis (plural testes) is the male reproductive gland or gonad in all bilaterians, including humans. It is homologous to the female ovary. The functions of the testes are to produce both sperm and androgens, primarily testoste ...

, after the appearance of the tubers of plants of the genus ''

Orchis ''Orchis'' is a genus in the orchid family (Orchidaceae), occurring mainly in Europe and Northwest Africa, and ranging as far as Tibet, Mongolia, and Xinjiang. The name is from the Ancient Greek ὄρχις ''orchis'', meaning "testicle", from ...

''.

Variations of orchid

Orchid pink

Displayed at right is the color orchid pink. 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 #13-2010 TPX—Orchid Pink.

Wild orchid

Displayed at right is the color wild orchid. The source of this color is the "

Textile Paper eXtended (TPX)" color list, color #16-2120 TPX—Wild Orchid.Pantone TPX Pantone Color Finder--Type the words "Wild Orchid" into the indicated window on the Pantone Color Finder and the color will appear:
/ref>

Dark orchid

Displayed at right is the web color dark orchid.

Dark Pink (Perbang)

Displayed at right is the web color dark pink (PerBang).

References

{{Shades of pink Shades of magenta Shades of violet