Live, Saturday 3 October

Every colour in the world, and what it means.

Rang is a free guide to colour: every named colour, pigment and dye, what each one means from country to country and city to city, and how colour is tied to feeling. With sources, pictures and a calendar that changes every day.

The world in colour today Surprise me

620: colours written up
1,292: named swatches
119: countries
174: colour cities

Red Scarlet Vermilion Crimson Alizarin Maroon Falu red Burgundy Rust Cardinal Coquelicot Ochre Coral Amber Saffron Peach International orange Safety orange Tangerine Methyl orange Apricot Chrome orange Yellow Cream Gamboge Ecru Naples yellow Lemon Chrome yellow Indian Yellow Cadmium pigments Isabelline School bus yellow Green Olive Paris Green Lime Chartreuse Verdigris Spring green Viridian Forest green Feldgrau Phthalo green Cyan Turquoise Teal Aqua Blue-green Tiffany Blue Robin egg blue Capri Eton blue Process cyan Dark electric blue Blue Indigo Ultramarine Prussian blue Azure Sky blue Cobalt blue Navy blue Egyptian blue Cerulean Royal blue Violet Purple Lilac Mauve Lavender Puce Eggplant Mulberry Plum Orchid Red-violet Pink Magenta Rose Salmon Cerise Mountbatten pink Baker-Miller Pink Cyclamen Mexican pink Lusty gallant Cherry blossom pink Khaki Beige Sepia Umber Bistre Sienna Copper Taupe Pantone 448 C Mummy brown Van Dyck brown White Ivory Zinc white Titanium white Cosmic latte Eggshell Grey Slate gray Gunmetal Eigengrau Gray card Platinum Marengo Payne's grey Cadet grey Cinereous Gray (web)Black Smoky black Rich black Gold Harvest gold Gold (metallic)Metallic gold Vegas gold

The world in colour today

Colour follows the calendar. These are the days being dressed, lit and painted for now and next.

The full picture for today

On now, 1 to 31 Oct 2026Pink October (Breast Cancer Awareness Month)Pink ribbons, pink shirts and landmarks lit pink through October, to raise awareness of breast cancer. On now, 3 Oct 2026German Unity DayBlack, red and gold: the colours of German democracy since the nineteenth century. In 8 days, 11 to 20 Oct 2026NavratriNine nights, nine colours: a different colour to wear each day, and mirrored skirts whirling in the garba. In 8 days, 11 to 25 Oct 2026DashainA red tika of rice and vermilion on the forehead and yellow barley shoots behind the ear, given by elders in Nepal.

And because it is Saturday: Saturday is purple (Thailand), Saturday for Shani: black and dark blue.

#CB410B Colour of the daySinopiaSinopia is a natural pigment with a deep reddish-brown hue, coloured by hematite, a form of iron oxide. Named after the port of Sinop, it was valued from ancient times through the Renaissance, especially for sketching designs on plaster before painting frescoes. The word also came to mean the preparatory drawing itself.Read about Sinopia

Colour and emotion

Which colours carry which feelings, what studies actually find, and how the answer changes from one culture to the next.

All 20 emotions

By family

Thirteen families hold every colour on Rang.

All colours, A to Z

Red98 Orange34 Yellow87 Green55 Turquoise and cyan16 Blue85 Purple and violet54 Pink and magenta36 Brown75 White28 Grey22 Black23 Gold and metallics7

By country and city

The same colour means luck in one country and mourning in the next. Start with a country, then go down to its cities.

All countries

🇮🇹 Five pastel villages on a cliff coastCinque TerreTall houses in ochre, pink and yellow crowd tiny harbours below terraced vineyards on the Italian Riviera.

🇳🇴 The colour-planned Arctic townLongyearbyenOne of the world's most northerly towns, where rows of houses follow a designed scheme of warm colours.

🇬🇧 London's pastel terracesNotting HillVictorian terraces painted pink, blue, yellow and lilac, and a summer carnival of feathers and sequins.

🇦🇺 The pink lakeLake HillierA small salt lake on an island off Western Australia whose water is a solid, milky pink.

🇮🇳 The Blue CityJodhpurOld-city houses washed in blue crowd the foot of Mehrangarh Fort, on the edge of the Thar Desert.

🇮🇳 The White CityUdaipurWhite palaces and whitewashed houses stand around lakes in the Aravalli hills of southern Rajasthan.

All 174 colour cities

Get to know a few

A different handful every few minutes.

All colours

#F0EAD6 Eggshell A pale, warm off-white inspired by the colour of a chicken eggNamed shade

#100C08 Smoky black A horse coat colour made by the cream gene on a black baseNamed shade · 🇮🇸 Iceland

#191970 Midnight blue A deep blue that recalls the sky late at night under moonlightNamed shade #E9D66B Arylide yellow A family of semi-transparent yellow pigments used in art and industryPigment · 🇩🇪 Germany +1

#FFF700 Lemon A vivid yellow named for the colour of lemon fruitNamed shade

#FFEBCD X11 color names A set of colour names and values used in the X Window System and early web browsersStandard colour #E0115F Ruby A vivid red shade named for the polished ruby gemstoneNamed shade

#4C5866 Marengo A dark grey or blue-grey shade, once a speckled fabric from northern ItalyNamed shade · 🇮🇹 Italy +2

Learn about colour

81 ideas explained plainly: how the eye sees, why languages name colours differently, how pigments are made, and how to choose a palette.

Everything to learn

Additive and subtractive mixingMixing lights makes colours brighter, and all three primaries give white. Mixing paints makes them darker and gives near black.Skin colour words and colourismColourism is prejudice in favour of lighter skin, often within one community. The words used for skin carry it, and can be changed.Structural colourColour made by tiny structures, not pigment. It is why a peacock feather shimmers and why no bird has blue pigment.Colour psychology and what the evidence supportsColour does affect mood and behaviour a little. The effects are small, depend on context, and are far weaker than posters claim.Colour preferenceBlue is the favourite in most surveys and dark brownish yellow the least liked. Liking seems to follow the things a colour recalls.Baker-Miller pinkA bubblegum pink said to calm violent prisoners within minutes. Careful studies have not been able to repeat the effect.

Colour news

More headlines

Photos of the weekReuters, Festivals
Every 2027 Color of the Year We Know So Farmarthastewart.com, Colour of the year
The 8 Colors Fashion Girls are Building Their Fall Wardrobes Aroundinstyle.com, Fashion and design
In India, Holi welcomes spring with a Festival of ColorsDW.com, Festivals
Tom’s Watch Bar Partners With Dodgers Fan Club Pantone 294Yahoo Sports, Colour of the year
More clues to Maya blueChemistry World, Craft and textiles

Newly added

See what is new

ViolaxanthinAn orange pigment found in many plants and used as a food colouring in some countries Brilliant Black BNA synthetic black dye used in foods and decorations, known as E151 in Europe Yellow 2GA synthetic yellow azo dye once used as a food colouring 4-NitroanilineA yellow chemical used to make dyes and other industrial products

The colour lab

Type any value: its nearest names, its harmonies, its contrast and how it looks to colour-blind eyes.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

X11 color names: Gabriela Ruellan, CC0, source
Midnight blue: Kippelboy, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Sinopia: Joanbanjo, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Smoky black: Kayla Oakes, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Marengo: Horace Vernet, Public domain, source
Lemon: André Karwath aka Aka, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
Jodhpur In: Lavpatel2008, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Udaipur In: Gerd Eichmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Cinque Terre It: This Photo was taken by Timothy A. Gonsalves . Feel free to use my pho, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
Longyearbyen No: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
Notting Hill Gb: Chris Whippet, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
Lake Hillier Au: Aussie Oc, CC BY-SA 4.0, source