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This article is about the color pink. For the singer known as Pink (P!nk), see Pink (singer). For other uses, see Pink (disambiguation).
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Pink is a pale red color, which takes its name from the flower of the same name.[2][3] According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink, especially when combined with white or pale blue, is the color most commonly associated with femininity, sensitivity, tenderness, childhood, and the romantic. However, when combined with violet or black, it is associated with eroticism and seduction.[4]

Pink was first used as a color name in the late 17th century.[5]

Varieties and uses[edit]

See also: Shades of pink


The color pink is named after the flowers called pinks, flowering plants in the genus Dianthus. The name derives from the frilled edge of the flowers—the verb "to pink" dates from the 14th century and means "to decorate with a perforated or punched pattern" (possibly from German "pinken" = to peck).[6] As noted and referenced above, the word "pink" was first used as a noun to refer to the color known today as pink in the 17th century. The verb sense of the word "pink" continues to be used today in the name of the hand tool known as pinking shears.

History, art and fashion[edit]

From the ancient world to the Renaissance[edit]


Pink was not a common color in the fashion of the Middle Ages; nobles usually preferred brighter reds, such as crimson. However, it did appear sometimes in women's fashion, and in religious art. In the 13th and 14th century, in works by Cimabue and Duccio, the Christ child was sometimes portrayed dressed in pink, the color associated with the body of Christ.


During the Renaissance, pink was mainly used for the flesh color of faces and hands. The pigment commonly used for this was called light cinabrese; it was a mixture of the red earth pigment called sinopia, or Venetian red, and a white pigment called Bianco San Genovese, or lime white. In his famous 15th century manual on painting, Il Libro Dell'Arte, Cennino Cennini described it this way: "The color is made of the hansomest and lightest sinoper obtainable, and it is mixed and worked up with lime white; and this white is made from very white and well-purified lime. And when these two colors are well worked up together, that is, two parts cinabrese and the third lime white, make little cakes of it, like halves of nuts, and let them dry. Whenever you need some, take what you think fit; for this color does you credit in painting countenances, hands, and nudes on the wall."[10]

The 18th century[edit]

The golden age of the color pink was the Rococo Period (1720–1777) in the 18th century, when pastel colors became very fashionable in all the courts of Europe. Pink was particularly championed by Madame de Pompadour (1721–1764), the mistress of King Louis XV of France. who wore combinations of pale blue and pink, and had a particular tint of pink made for her by the Sevres porcelain factory, created by adding nuances of blue, black and yellow.[11]


The 19th century[edit]


The 20th century[edit]

In the 20th century, pinks became bolder, brighter and more assertive, in part because of the invention of chemical dyes which did not fade. The pioneer in the creation of the new wave of pinks was the Italian designer Elsa Schiaparelli, (1890-1973) who was aligned with the artists of the surrealist movement, including Jean Cocteau. In 1931 she created a new variety of the color, called Shocking pink, made by mixing magenta with a small amount of white. She also created a scandal by launching a perfume of the same name, sold in a bottle in the shape of a woman's bust. Her fashions, co-designed with artists such as Cocteau, featured the new pinks.[12]

In Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, inmates of concentration camps who were accused of homosexuality were forced to wear a pink triangle.[13] Because of this, the pink triangle has become a symbol of the modern gay rights movement.[citation needed]

In 1973, Sheila Levrant de Bretteville created "Pink," a broadside meant to explore the notions of gender as associated with the color pink, for an American Institute of Graphic Arts exhibition about color. This was the only entry about the color pink. Various women including many in the Feminist Studio Workshop at the Woman's Building submitted entries exploring their association with the color. De Bretteville arranged the squares of paper to form a "quilt" from which posters were printed and disseminated throughout Los Angeles.[14] She was often called "Pinky" as a result.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude's Surrounded Islands wrapped wooded islands in Miami's Biscayne Bay with 6,500,000 sq ft (600,000 m2) of bright pink fabric.[15] Thomas von Taschitzki has said that "the monochrome pink wrappings"..."form a counterpoint to the small green wooded islands."[16]

Many of Franz West's aluminium sculptures were often painted a bright pink, for example Sexualitatssymbol (Symbol of Sexuality). West has said that the pink was intended as an "outcry to nature".[17]

Science and nature[edit]


In optics, pink can refer to any of the colors between bluish red (purple) and red, of medium to high brightness and of low to moderate saturation.[18] Although pink is generally considered a tint of red,[19][20] most variations of pink lie between red, white and magenta colors. This means that the pink's hue is between red and magenta.[21][22][23][24]

Why sunrises and sunsets sometimes look pink[edit]




Why cooked beef, cured ham, steamed shrimp and salmon are pink[edit]




Plants and flowers[edit]


Pigments - Pinke[edit]

Main article: Pinke (color)



  • Pink noise (About this sound sample ), also known as 1/f noise, in audio engineering is a signal or process with a frequency spectrum such that the power spectral density is proportional to the reciprocal of the frequency.

Pink in symbolism and world culture[edit]


Although it may be said that pink has no negative associations[citation needed], it also happens to be one of least popular colors. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink was the favorite color of only two-percent of respondents, compared with forty-five-percent who chose blue. It was the least-favorite color of seventeen percent of respondents; the only color more disliked was brown, with twenty percent. There was a notable difference between men and women; three percent of women chose pink as their favorite color, compared with less than one percent of men. Many of the men surveyed were unable to even identify pink correctly, confusing it with mauve. Pink was also more popular with older people than younger; twenty-five percent of women under twenty-five called pink their least favorite color, compared with only eight percent of women over fifty. Twenty-nine percent of men under the age of twenty-five said pink was their least favorite color, compared with eight percent of men over fifty.[29]

Pink in other languages[edit]

In most European languages, the color pink is the name of the rose flower; rose in French and Dutch; rosa in German, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian; rozoviy in Russian; and różowy in Polish. In Finnish it is called pinkki.

In the Japanese language, the traditional word for pink, Momo-iro (ももいろ?), takes its name from the peach blossom. There is a separate word for the color of the cherry blossom: sakura-iro. In recent times a word based on the English version, Pinku (ピンク?), has begun to be used.

Idioms and expressions[edit]

  • Pink Money, the pink pound or pink dollar is an economic term which refers to the spending power of the LGBT community.[31] Advertising agencies sometimes call the gay market the pink economy.
  • Tickled pink means extremely pleased.



Food and beverages[edit]

According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most associated with sweet foods and beverages. Pink is also one of the few colors to be strongly associated with a particular aroma, that of roses.[32] Many strawberry and raspberry-flavored foods are colored pink and light red as well, sometimes to distinguish them from cherry-flavored foods that are more commonly colored dark red.







By the 1950s, pink was strongly associated with femininity but to an extent that was "neither rigid nor universal" as it later became.[44][45][46]





  • In street slang, the pink sometimes refers to the vagina.[49]
  • In Japan, a genre of low budget, erotic cinema is referred to as Pink films (ピンク映画 Pinku Eiga?).[51]



Social movements[edit]

Pink is often used as a symbolic color by groups involved in issues important to women, and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual community.

  • Pinkstinks, a campaign founded in London in May 2008[55] to raise awareness of what they claim is the damage caused by gender stereotyping of children.[56][57]
  • The Pink Pistols is a gay gun rights organization.[58]

Academic dress[edit]







The press[edit]








In the Olympics Games, German females wear pink jackets and other sports attire.

See also[edit]


Further reading[edit]

  • Cennini, Cennino (1960). The Craftsman's Handbook - Il Libro dell'Arte. Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0-486-20054-5. 

Notes and citations[edit]

  6. ^ Collins Dictionary
  7. ^ The Odyssey, Book XII, translated by Samuel Butler.
  9. ^ The Madonna of the Pinks on the official National Gallery website
  10. ^ Cennino Cennini, The Craftsman's Handbook - Il Libro dell'Arte, pg. 23-24.
  14. ^ "WACK! Exhibition, podcast interview with de Bretteville". 1940-11-04. Retrieved 2010-09-27. 
  15. ^ Goodman, Walter (1987-10-16). "Film: Christo, in 'Islands'". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-10-05. 
  16. ^ Nemitz, Barbara. Pink The Exposed Color in Contemporary Art and Culture. Hatje Cantz. p. 68. 
  17. ^ Nemitz, Barbara. Pink The Exposed Color in Contemporary Art and Culture. Hatje Cantz. p. 69. 
  18. ^ "Merriam Webster definition of the color "pink"". Retrieved 2011-11-12. 
  19. ^ "Pink, a Tint of Red". Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
  21. ^ Colors by Hue at MSDN
  27. ^ [1] New Scientist, "Colorful pigs evolved trhough farming, not nature".
  30. ^ Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 4
  31. ^ "Opportunities in the Pink Economy of the United Kingdom" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-09-11. [dead link]
  32. ^ Eva Heller, Psychologie de la couleur – effets et symboliques
  36. ^ Smithsonian, When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?, April 2011
  43. ^ Eva Heller, Psychologie de la couleur; effets et symboliques.
  44. ^ Paoletti, 92
  45. ^ Ben Goldacre (2007-08-25). "Bad Science". Out of the Blue and into the Pink (London). 
  46. ^ Zucker, Kenneth J. and Bradley, Susan J. (1995). Gender Identity Disorder and Psychosexual Problems in Children and Adolescents. Guilford Press. p. 203. ISBN 0-89862-266-2. 
  47. ^ Paoletti, 97-8
  50. ^ "Gay in Russia". Gaylife. Retrieved September 5, 2012. 
  52. ^ "Why is the British Empire coloured pink on maps?". Royal Museums Greenwhich. 
  53. ^ "Website of Pink magazine:". Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
  54. ^
  55. ^ Katy Guest (18 December 2011). "Girls will be girls: The battle for our children's hearts and minds this Christmas". The Independent (London). Retrieved 13 April 2013. 
  56. ^ Susanna Rustin (21 April 2012). "Why girls aren't pretty in pink". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 13 April 2013. 
  57. ^ Harry Wallop (30 November 2009). "Pink toys 'damaging' for girls". Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 13 April 2013. 
  61. ^ O'Riordain, Aoife (1998-10-03). "The evidence: The barrister's desk". The Independent (London). 

External links[edit]