Incarnadine - Shades and Varieties of Red

Shades and Varieties of Red

Red can vary in hue from orange-red to violet-red. and for each hue there are a wide variety of shades and tints, from very light pink to dark burgundy.

• Red is the color of most ripe strawberries.

• Pure, or solid red, with no other colors added.

• Scarlet, on a traditional color wheel, is one quarter of the way between the colors red and orange. It is the color worn by a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. This is Cardinal Théodore-Adrien Sarr of Senegal, the Bishop of Dakar.

• The cardinal (bird) is named for the color cardinal red, which takes its name from the color worn by Roman Catholic cardinals.

• Vermilion is similar to scarlet, but slightly more orange. This is sindoor, a red cosmetic powder used in India; Hindu women put a stripe of sindoor in their hair to show they are married.

• Crimson is a strong, deep red containing a little blue. The emblem of Harvard University.

• Alizarin crimson is closer to purple than to orange on the traditional color wheel. Alizarin is an organic compound found in the root of the madder plant, which was the most common red dye from antiquity until In the 19th century.

• Maroon is a bright, deep or dark shade of red. Sometimes it contains some purple. This is the flag of Latvia.

• Wine red, or burgundy, is a dark red containing a little blue.

• Ruby red is the color of a cut and polished ruby.

• Pink is any of the colors between reddish blue (purple) and red, of medium to high brightness and of low to moderate saturation.

(Lists of shades of red and variations of pink are found at the end of this article.)