Colors Word Search

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green

Plants look green because chlorophyll soaks up red and blue light for energy and reflects the green it cannot use.

purple

Real purple does not exist as one wavelength; your brain invents it when red and blue light arrive together.

orange

Carrots were once mostly purple or white; orange types grew dominant in the Netherlands and only later got tied to Dutch royalty.

crimson

Crimson dye was long made from crushed cochineal insects raised on cactus, a color once worth more than its weight in gold.

burgundy

Burgundy is named after a wine region in France, its deep red matching the color of the reds poured there.

turquoise

Turquoise takes its name from French for 'Turkish,' because the blue-green stone first reached Europe through trade routes crossing Turkey.

charcoal

Charcoal is made by heating wood with little air, and artists have drawn with its dark sticks for thousands of years.

magenta

Magenta was named after an 1859 battle in Italy, just as chemists unveiled the bright new dye that season.

emerald

Emeralds get their green from traces of chromium in beryl crystals, and fine ones can cost more than diamonds.

scarlet

Scarlet has long signaled importance, from cardinals' robes to royal cloaks, marking rank and drama in one bold shade.

silver

Silver is the best natural conductor of electricity and heat, beating even copper, though its price keeps it out of wiring.

violet

Violet sits at the rainbow's far edge with the shortest wavelength we can see, just before invisible ultraviolet begins.

maroon

The word maroon shares roots with chestnut, since the deep brownish-red shade recalls the color of a roasted chestnut's skin.

indigo

Indigo dye comes from plant leaves and gives blue jeans their color, once so valued it was called blue gold.

bronze

Bronze is copper mixed with tin, and it was so important that an entire age of history is named for it.

In their words