Khaki (color)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The color khaki comes from the Persian word khak (through Urdu), meaning dust, and khaki meaning dusty, dust covered or earth colored. It has been used by many armies around the world for camouflage uniforms. Most notably, khaki was used by the British Army in India in 1848.

Khaki-colored uniforms were used officially for the first time during the Abyssinian campaign of 1867-68, when Indian troops set out under the command of general Sir Robert Napier to release some British captives and to "persuade the Abyssinian King /Theodore/, forcibly if necessary, to mend his ways". (Byron Farwell, Armies of the Raj, 1989, page 75.)

"This was the first major campaign in which some of the troops wore khaki, which had been officially introduced as approved working dress in 1861. Although approval was withdrawn in 1864, many troops, particularly those who had seen active service on the North-West Frontier, continued to dye their white drill uniforms with tea leaves or other substances. Khaki ('dusty') was said to have been invented by Lieutenant (later Lieutenant-general) Harry Lumsden when, in December 1846, he founded the Corps of Guides." (Farwell, page 77.)

Nowadays, it is a standard color for semi-formal dress pants.

The name is sometimes also incorrectly used to describe a green color similar to asparagus or pale sea green, especially by the linen/textile/lingerie industries

Contents

[edit] Web color darkkhaki

Web color darkkhaki
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet #BDB76B
RGBa (r, g, b) (189, 183, 107)
HSV (h, s, v) (56°, 43%, 74%)
a: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

At right is displayed the web color darkkhaki.[1]

This is the color that is called dark khaki (one of the X11 color names) in X11 because it is darker than X11 khaki (and also HTML/CSS Khaki).

[edit] Web color khaki

Khaki
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet #C3B091
RGBa (r, g, b) (195, 176, 145)
HSV (h, s, v) (?°, ?%, ?%)
a: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

At right is displayed the web color khaki.[1] .

This is the color called khaki in HTML/CSS.

This is the color generally thought of as being khaki by the average person--this is the color that one expects to see when one buys a pair of khaki pants. This is also the color designated as khaki in the 1930 book A Dictionary of Color, the standard for color nomenclature before the introduction of computers.

The first recorded use of khaki as a color name in English was in 1848.[2]

[edit] Web color lightkhaki

Web color lightkhaki
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet #F0E68C
RGBa (r, g, b) (240, 230, 140)
HSV (h, s, v) (54°, 41%, 94%)
a: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

At right is displayed the web color lightkhaki.[1]

This is the color called khaki in X11. This is one of the cases where the X11 color names differs from the HTML/CSS names. See the chart Color names that clash between X11 and HTML/CSS in the X11 color names article to see those colors which are different in HTML/CSS and X11.

[edit] Shades of khaki color comparison chart

  • Light Khaki (X11 "Khaki") (Hex: #F0E68C) (RGB: 240, 230, 140)
  • Khaki (HTML/CSS) (Hex: #C3B091) (RGB: 195, 176, 145)
  • Dark Khaki (X11 "Dark Khaki") (Hex: #BDB76B) (RGB: 189, 183, 107)

[edit] Khaki in human culture

[edit] Reference

  1. ^ a b c CSS3 Color Module, retrieved 2007-02-15
  2. ^ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 197; Color Sample of Khaki: Page 49 Plate 13 Color Sample J7

[edit] See also

  Shades of brown  
Auburn Bistre Brown Buff Burgundy Burnt sienna Burnt umber Copper Liver Mahogany Maroon Ochre
                       
Pale brown Raw Umber Russet Rust Sandy brown Seal brown Sepia Tan Wheat Zinnwaldite Fallow Bole
                       
Taupe Medium Taupe Pale Taupe Dark Khaki Khaki Light Khaki Sandy Taupe Ecru Beige
                 
  Shades of yellow  
Amber Beige Buff Corn Cream Dark Goldenrod Ecru Flax Gamboge Golden
                   
Goldenrod Khaki Lemon Lemon Cream Lime Mustard Navajo white Old Gold Olive Papaya whip
                   
Peach-yellow Pear Saffron School bus yellow Selective yellow Tangerine yellow Yellow Apricot Metallic Gold Chartreuse yellow
                   
Golden yellow Golden poppy Green-yellow