Violet (color)

Violet (color)

The color violet takes its name from the violet flower. On the traditional color wheel used by painters, it is located between blue and red. In the spectrum of light instead, it is located in the frequencies below of blue, the farthest away possible from red, having a wavelength of approximately 380–450 nm.

Violet colors composed by blue and red lights are inside the purple colors (the word "purple" is used in the common sense for any color between blue and red) and can be named purple-violet. Violet light from the rainbow, which can be referred as spectral-violet, is monochromatic instead. Spectral-violet looks like purple-violet for the human eye because L-cones have a secondary response in high-frequency blue

Violet objects are normally purple-violet. Objects reflecting spectral-violet appear very dark, because human vision is relatively insensitive to those wavelengths. Monochromatic lamps emitting spectral-violet wavelengths can be roughly approximated by the color shown below as electric violet.

The first recorded use of violet as a color name in English was in 1370. A pale tint of violet is lavender.