mauve

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable, historical, uncountable) A rich purple synthetic dye, which faded easily, briefly popular c. 1859‒1873 and now called mauveine.
2. (countable, uncountable) A pale purple or violet colour, like the colour of the dye after it has faded.

Adj

Having a pale purple colour.

Synonyms

violet

lilac

purple

violin

🎻

light purple

mauveine

pale purple

aniline violet

amaranth

Perkin’s mauve

lavender

mallow

Translations

mauve

paars

malva

mauve

malva

violett

μωβ

lilás

ιώδες

lilla

πορφυρό

μαβί

color malva

violet

malva

Pronounced as (IPA)

/məʊv/

Etymology

Borrowed from French mauve (“mallow”), from Latin malva, which has a purple colour. Doublet of mallow. Coined in 1856 by the chemist William Henry Perkin, when he accidentally created the first aniline dye.