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Colours - need synonyms please!

33 replies

ReadytoOrderSir · 04/08/2013 17:01

I'm a teacher, spending my 'holiday' doing all sorts of tasks that I don't get time for in term-time. I've spent today compiling an epic list of synonyms for all sorts of words (nice, said, walk, etc).

Now I'm doing colours. I cannot find my ancient printed thesaurus and the Microsoft one is crap for colours. If I paste my list of colour words so far, can you wise MNers please add any more that you can think of?

Flowers to you all [thanks, gratitude, appreciation, recognition, cheers, ta!]

yellow lemon amber sand gold blonde sunny saffron

red scarlet ruby crimson blush ruby
burgundy garnet cherry bloodshot
claret rust ruddy magenta

pink cerise fuchsia rosy salmon

purple mauve lilac heliotrope
violet lavender amethyst plum

black jet coal midnight
darkness shadowy night

blue navy azure teal
sapphire turquoise indigo royal
cobalt ultramarine cerulean

green emerald grassy pea
apple lime sage spinach
aquamarine olive pine khaki

orange peach carrot coral
tangerine cantaloupe apricot titian

white ivory snowy fair
chalky milky frosted silvery
icy pallid wan

brown tawny beige russet
tan brunette chocolate coffee
fawn taupe mushroom

grey fog cloud leaden
overcast steely gloomy dull
dreary

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Leeds2 · 04/08/2013 17:41

red - maroon

yellow - bronze, gold

green - jade

blue - aqua-marine

grey - charcoal

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Celador · 04/08/2013 17:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Sleepyhoglet · 04/08/2013 17:52

Omg do you want to pm the list? I'd be forever grateful and due to family situation ( see my other posts) I've not been able to do any/ much school work this holiday.

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AnneEyhtMeyer · 04/08/2013 18:25

Red - carmine

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Solopower1 · 04/08/2013 18:32

terracotta

copper, bronze

dove grey

powder blue, baby blue

stone

bottle green

brick red

yellow ochre

But you've got an impressive list there already!

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Leeds2 · 04/08/2013 18:33

I suppose you could use strawberry for red, too. We always used to say pillar box red, but I think that might be a bit dated now!

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GigiDarcy · 04/08/2013 18:41

I use colour names for tables in my classroom and have used the crayola colours as inspiration
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Crayola_crayon_colors

I use synonyms instead of red etc in the vain hope that my class will use them in their writing!

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ReadytoOrderSir · 04/08/2013 20:01

Wow! Thank you all. Some superb/excellent/wonderful suggestions there ;-)

I will happily PM the entire list to everyone when it's done. It's pretty epic: more than 200 for 'said'!

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Sleepyhoglet · 04/08/2013 20:40

Brilliant! I'm really impressed.

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FryOneFatManic · 04/08/2013 21:02

I've only ever seen Midnight used as a description of something in a navy blue, not black.

Other ideas for colours:
Ginger
Cyan
Jade
Teal
Aqua
Demin
Meadow Green
Prussian Blue
Evergreen
Pumpkin
Quartz
Grape
Blueberry
Damson
Sienna
Merlot
Ochre

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Andro · 04/08/2013 21:50

Blue - kingfisher

White - platinum (usually used to describe a shade of blond hair),

Brown - mahogany, nut/chestnut

Black - ebony

Green - Spring, mint

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ReadytoOrderSir · 04/08/2013 23:41

Ebony! How on earth did I miss ebony?!

I knew MN would come up with the goods. :-)

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PomBearWithAnOFRS · 04/08/2013 23:44

Puce (pinky mauve)
Chartreuse (green)

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ReadytoOrderSir · 05/08/2013 00:10

"The pink copies go to Accounting, the fuchshia ones go to Purchasing, and the goldenrod ones go to Roz. Leave the puce. " Grin

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LRDYaDumayuShtoTiKrasiviy · 05/08/2013 00:15

Citrine is yellow.
Umber is brown/red brown and they might know that because you get 'burnt umber' in paint sets.
Sable
If you can have 'claret' you can have 'wine'.

How does it work, though? Am I being dim ... if I were asked for a list of colour words I wouldn't come up with some of these as I would say they are descriptions applied to colours, not actual words for colours?

I don't know how old the children are, but 'gules' is the heraldry word for red and it comes up in Shakespeare.

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PomBearWithAnOFRS · 05/08/2013 00:16

I used to do Ann Summers parties years ago, and one of the guests once asked me if I had "that lovely fuck-seer set on page xyz" - eventually I clicked on, she wanted the fuchsia ones Grin Confused

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LRDYaDumayuShtoTiKrasiviy · 05/08/2013 00:16

Grin

That is brilliant.

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BlackeyedSusan · 05/08/2013 00:18

yes please. i collected a few words for said and walked/moved with dd. got no-where near as many. Blush

peppermint? someone beat me to mint green.

black, dusky?

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BlackeyedSusan · 05/08/2013 00:19

stone grey?

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LRDYaDumayuShtoTiKrasiviy · 05/08/2013 00:22

Ashen for grey.
ecru - I guess that's greyish/green.

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LRDYaDumayuShtoTiKrasiviy · 05/08/2013 00:28

celadon
viridian

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TerraNotSoFirma · 05/08/2013 00:29

Loving the monsters inc quote.
Magenta?

(Would love a copy of your list please, if you wouldn't mind)

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TerraNotSoFirma · 05/08/2013 00:31

Sorry, didn't spot magenta :)

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janji · 05/08/2013 01:03

You lot are fab!! Any words you can think off that Year 1 children could use to describe jellyfish ( long story)! Bonus points for rhyming pairs?!

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ReadytoOrderSir · 05/08/2013 08:56

Rhyming pairs for jellyfish sounds like a challenge I can't resist!

Wiggly squiggly

Squashy washy

Stinging flinging (?)

Clear dear

Wobbly bobbly

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