magenta

Meanings

Noun

• A vibrant light purple, purplish-red, reddish-purple, or pinkish purple colour obtained by mixing red and blue light (thus a secondary colour), but primary in the CMYK colour system used in printing.

Adjective

• having the colour of fuchsia, fuchsine, light purple.

Related

Similar words

• fuchsia
• fuchsine

Origin

• Named in 1859 by Edward Chambers Nicholson after the Battle of Magenta, fought earlier that year in Magenta, Lombardy. The town's name is from Latin castrum Maxentiae, "castle of Maxentius."