Uploaded August 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Prepare to be amazed by the surprising origins of the English words for colours (or colors for our American friends). I promise you'll have at least one "wow" moment as I reveal:
🔵 Why the Ancient Greeks had no word for BLUE.
🔶 How the fruit "ORANGE" came before the colour.
◼️ Why BLACK used to mean WHITE.
🔴 Which colour we named first (I've given you a hint)
💿 Why there are two ways to spell GREY/GRAY
🌈 And much, much more.

Find out the etymologies of black, white, gray, blue, brown, green, orange, purples, pink, red and yellow - from their origins thousands of years ago, through Old English and into the present day.

Let's enjoy some colourful language!
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==CHAPTERS==
0:00 Introduction
0:41 Colour & Color
1:26 Origin of BLACK
4:18 Origin of WHITE
5:10 Two spellings of GRAY/GREY
6:30 No word for BLUE
8:55 Italians and AZZURRO
10:01 Origin of BROWN
10:50 Origin of GREEN
11:35 ORANGE or norange?
13:07 Origin of PINK
13:27 Origin of PURPLE
14:18 Origin of RED
15:16 Origin of YELLOW
16:30 Goodbye