Eggplant (color)

Eggplant is a dark purple[1] or brownish-purple[2] color that resembles the color of the outer skin of European eggplants.[3] Another name for the color eggplant is aubergine[2] (the French, German and British English word for eggplant).

Eggplant as a quaternary color on the RYB color wheel

purple

aubergine

magenta

Eggplant
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#614051
HSV       (h, s, v)	(329°, 34%, 38%)
sRGB^B  (r, g, b)	(97, 64, 81)
Source	Crayola
ISCC–NBS descriptor	Dark purplish red
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) H: Normalized to [0–100] (hundred)

A European eggplant (aubergine)

The first recorded use of eggplant as a color name in English was in 1915.[4]

The pinkish-purple-grayish color shown in the color box as eggplant was introduced by Crayola in 1998.[5]

Different varieties of eggplant may range from indigo to white (the term eggplant originated as a description of white colored eggplants because they look like eggs). Chinese eggplants are the same shape as a European eggplant, but are colored a dark violet color. Thai eggplants are small, round, and colored forest green.

References

1. David Grambs (1995). The Describer's Dictionary: A Treasury of Terms and Literary Quotations. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-31265-8.
2. William Yewdale Adams (1986). Ceramic Industries of Medieval Nubia. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-0500-5.
3. Mish, Frederic C., Editor in Chief Webster's Tenth New Collegiate Dictionary Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.A.:1994--Merriam-Webster Page 369
4. Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York: 1930 McGraw-Hill Page 194; Color Sample of Eggplant: Page 119 Plate 48 Color Sample H12
5. Crayola. "Crayola Creativity Central". Retrieved 31 May 2010.