The surprising pattern behind color names around the world

Vox
8 HN recommenders · recommended in 6 months, 2017–2025
YouTube
8.4M views · 9 years ago · explainer · evergreen

A Vox explainer on research into how languages name colors, showing that languages tend to add color terms in a similar order across cultures. It draws on the World Color Survey and work by linguistic anthropologists.

HN people share it as the clearest summary of research on how culture shapes color naming and perception.

“This Vox video summarizing the research of linguistic anthropologists is much more clear”
ColorPsychology for designers
#colornames#colorperception#linguistics#worldcolorsurvey#culture#vox

13 comments from Hacker News

s
@shagie2025 · in “A visualization of the RGB space covered by named colors”
link and also link VOX : The surprising pattern behind color names around the world ▶ this video If you're interested in this is as a board game - link
RecommendsView on HN
J
@Jeremy10262024 · in “Is My Blue Your Blue?”
It's very cultural. For example, Japan used the same word for green and blue, so their green light on traffic lights is as blue as possible while conforming to international standards for the light to be "green". Also, there is a pretty well done video by Vox on how color names are influenced by culture ▶ this video
RecommendsView on HN
d
@dghughes2023 · in “Why Japan has blue traffic lights instead of green”
I also find it fascinating that cultures have so many words for colours or so few words for colours either way it's interesting. Here is a good video on colour and how many cultures perceive colour and name them, or not. "The surprising pattern behind color names around the world" ▶ this video
RecommendsView on HN
c
@chazzyluc2018 · in “Building your color palette”
May not be exactly what you want but you could look into the World Color Survey: link ▶ this video
RecommendsView on HN
s
@sn92017 · in “The sea was never blue”
Text really isn't the best medium to discuss color perception. This Vox video summarizing the research of linguistic anthropologists is much more clear: ▶ this video
RecommendsView on HN
b
@bane2017 · in “The surprising pattern behind color names around the world”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
RecommendsView on HN
t
@tambourine_man2017 · in “The surprising pattern behind color names around the world”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
RecommendsView on HN
p
@peter_d_sherman2017 · in “The surprising pattern behind color names around the world”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
RecommendsView on HN
b
@bsanr2020 · in “Using machine learning to recreate photorealistic portraits of Roman Emperors”
What is blond, in a two-thousand-year-old context? ▶ this video
CitesView on HN
B
@Balgair2020 · in “Why Are Plants Green? To Reduce the Noise in Photosynthesis”
The perception of color is a pretty wild area of science. Colors seem to be culturally dependent. In that, people literally cannot see the difference between blue and green if their language does not have words to distinguish them. Even when big rewards are given for the 'correct' answer. Colors also follow certain patterns, with colors like blue being the last to be named in a culture. ▶ this video Fun fact, the color blue does not appear at all in the Iliad, Homer describes the ocean as wine, despite the stunning blue colors of grecian seas.
CitesView on HN
r
@romaaeterna2019 · in “Wine-dark sea”
Yes, the ancient Greeks knew about the color blue, as do most old world primates. Here is an linguistic explanation of color language around the world: ▶ this video The sculpture reconstructions you've linked are rather imaginative -- German grad students with UV lights, not chemical reconstructions -- and are probably only vaguely like the original colors. Where original colors have actually survived, in frescoes, etc., the ancients display a reasonable eye for beauty in color.
CitesView on HN
s
@sabizmil2019 · in “Animals are no less emotional than we are”
I'm not saying that emotions don't exist, just that the meaning is completely separate from the way that we define it. For example many languages define colors differently (▶ this video), but this doesn't mean that the different wavelengths don't exist. Cultures categorized them for the purpose of communication and it's only within the context of that categorization that you can understand the meaning. Earlier I referenced "finger pointing at the moon" and this is exactly it. The word is the finger and the meaning is the moon, and we shouldn't mistake the finger for the moon. > i am sure there are animals willing to discuss it with you, it’s just that you (us) can’t understand them. I was half-joking, there are already animals that we can understand and communicate with. It's just a matter of finding them :P link > it is very possible that animals feel deeper emotional connections than we do. orcas showcase some very deep emotional states. No doubt. Even visiting an animal shelter exposes some of the deep emotional state that dogs and cats can be in, and I'm sure that barely scratches the surface when considering all of the different species and circumstances.
CitesView on HN