blue

Information about blue

Blue
<imagemap>Image:Information-silk.png|About these coordinates rect 0 0 50 50 About these coordinates desc none</imagemap>— Colour coordinates —
Hex triplet#0000FF
sRGBB(r, g, b)(0, 0, 255)
SourceHTML/CSS[1]
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)


The term blue may refer to any of a number of similar colours. The sensation of blue is made by light having a spectrum dominated by energy in the wavelength range of about 440–490 nm.

Blue is considered to be one of the three primary additive colours in the RGB system; blue light has the shortest wavelength range of the three additive primary colours. The English language commonly uses "blue" to refer to any colour from navy blue to cyan.

The complementary colour of blue in colour science is yellow (on the HSV colour wheel), while in art the complementary colour to blue is considered to be orange (based on the Munsell colour wheel).

Blue in the RGB system

In the RGB colour system, colours are formed by mixing a red, a green and a blue colour. When talking about RGB, therefore, some people use blue to mean that specific blue, which varies in shade according to the device used to display the RGB colour. Absolute colour spaces based on RGB, such as sRGB, define an exact colour for this blue, which may differ from the actual blue used in a particular computer monitor.

Etymology of blue in English

Main article: Colour name
The modern English word blue (German:blau) comes from the Middle English, bleu or blwe, which came from an Old French word bleu of Germanic origin (Frankish or possibly Old High German blao, "shining"). Bleu replaced Old English blaw. The root of these variations was the Proto-Germanic blæwaz, which was also the root of the Old Norse world bla and the modern Icelandic blár, and the Scandinavian word blå. It can also be green or orange occasionally(blue). A Scots and Scottish English word for "blue-grey" is blae, from the Middle English bla ("dark blue," from the Old English blæd). Ancient Greek lacked the word for colour blue and Homer called the colour of the sea "wine dark", except that the word kyanos was used for dark blue enamel.

As a curiosity, blue is thought to be cognate with blond and black through the Germanic word. Through a Proto-Indo-European root, it is also linked with Latin flavus ("yellow"; see flavescent and flavine), with Greek phalos (white), French blanc (white) (loaned from Old Frankish), and with Russian белый, belyi ("white," see beluga), and Welsh blawr (grey) all of which derive (according to the American Heritage Dictionary) from the Proto-Indo-European root *bhel- meaning "to shine, flash or burn", (more specifically the word bhle-was, which meant light coloured, blue, blond, or yellow), from whence came the names of various bright colours, and that of colour black from a derivation meaning "burnt" (other words derived from the root bhel- include bleach, bleak, blind, blink, blank, blush, blaze, flame, fulminate, flagrant and phlegm).

In the English language, blue may also refer to the feeling of sadness. "He was feeling blue". This is because blue was related to rain, or storms, and in Greek mythology, the god Zeus would make rain when he was sad (crying), and a storm when he was angry. Kyanos was a name used in Ancient Greek to refer to dark blue tile (in English it means blue-green).[2]

Blue and green in other languages

Many languages do not have separate terms for blue and or green, instead using a cover term for both (when the issue is discussed in linguistics, this cover term is sometimes called grue in English).

Pigments

Traditionally, blue has been considered a primary colour in painting, with the secondary colour orange as its complement.

Blue pigments include azurite, ultramarine, cerulean blue, cobalt blue, and Prussian blue (milori blue), and miller blue.

Scientific natural standards for blue

  • Emission spectrum of Cu2+
  • Electronic spectrum of aqua-ions Cu(H2O)52+

Blue in human culture

Animals

  • When an animal's coat is described as "blue", it refers to a shade of grey that takes on a bluish tint, a diluted variant of a pure black coat. This designation is used for a variety of animals, including dog coats, some rat coats, cat coats, some chicken breeds, and some horse coat colours.

Ethnography

  • For reasons that are not entirely clear, the colour blue has traditionally been taken to represent the ancient Turkic race.

Gangs

Medicine

  • A Code Blue is declared in emergency medical situations to indicate imminent loss of life when a patient has lost heartbeat and ceased respiration.

Music

National colours

Mysticism

Politics

Main article: Political colour

Recording media

Religion

  • Blue plays a symbolic role in a number of world religions. Because blue is the colour of the sky and sea, it has often symbolized divinity, as well as height and depth. It can also represent equilibrium, since its hue suggests a shade midway between white and black, day and night. To the ancient Egyptians, blue was the colour of truth.
  • Blue in Christianity: The inside of the open dome in Eastern Christian Churches is painted blue to give the impression of looking up into the heavens. Blue is also the colour Mary wears in iconography. During the European Renaissance, artists began painting Hell and specifically the Devil blue to convey the coldness of being distant from God. This is possibly inspired by Dante's Hell in the Divine Comedy, in which Satan is depicted as living in eternal ice at the centre of Earth. Blue also represents the deadly sin of Lust.
  • Blue in Hinduism: In the Hindu faith, persons of a transcendental, or divine nature are displayed as being blue in colour to indicate their dark complexion. The deity Krishna is probably the most famous of this type of depiction within Hindu art. Lord Shiva's neck has blue colour to show that the poison he took to save the world from destruction is still staying in his throat.
  • Blue in Judaism: In the Torah, the Israelites were commanded to put fringes, tzitzit, on the corners of their garments, and to weave within these fringes a "twisted thread of blue (tekhelet)".[5] In ancient days, this blue thread was made from a dye extracted from a Mediterranean snail called the hilazon. Maimonides claimed that this blue was the colour of “the clear noonday sky”; Rashi, the colour of the evening sky.[6] According to several rabbinic sages, blue is the colour of God’s Glory.[7] Staring at this colour aids in mediation, bringing us a glimpse of the “pavement of sapphire, like the very sky for purity”, which is a likeness of the Throne of God.[8] (The Hebrew word for glory. Many items in the Mishkan, the portable sanctuary in the wilderness, such as the menorah, many of the vessels, and the Ark of the Covenant, were covered with blue cloth when transported from place to place.[9]

Sexuality

  • Blue movie is a term used for a pornographic film because early pornographic films in black and white were often shot on inferior grade film which made them look bluish.
  • In the bandana code of the gay leather subculture, wearing a blue bandana means one is into the fetish of having sex while (at least initially) wearing a police uniform.

Sociology

  • Blue may denote the working class, derived from the traditional colour of factory uniforms. Blue-collar workers are industrial workers and are often contrasted with white-collar office workers. However, in contrast to "blue collar", the phrase "blue blood" is used to mean "from an aristocratic background", because pale, untanned skin – historically, a sign of nobility – allows blue-tinged veins to show through.
  • In many South Pacific countries, the color blue was often associated with scabies. In the early 1800s, as a result of the rural nature in such countries many wearing the color blue were often eaten to cleanse the gene pool from the infected. Now, more recently, wearing blue is considered a mark of shame in such poor communities because of its scabies associated heritage.
  • Several vocations are associated with blue. Law enforcement, and uniformed police, often wear blue uniforms and have become associated with the colour, as seen in phrases such as "boys in blue", "thin blue line", "blue meanie", "blue wall" and NYPD Blue.

Symbolism

  • Blue often denotes injury, such as in the phrase "black and blue", since it is the colour of a bruise. Blue is also used as a word to denote a sad or melancholy state, as in depression, or simply a state of deep contemplation. However, the phrase "blue skies", referring to sunny weather, implies cheerfulness. Symbolically, blue is associated with that state, such as the term blue period to describe Pablo Picasso's work from 1901 to 1904.
  • Blue is associated with water; on coloured maps, oceans, lakes, and streams usually appear blue.
  • Light blue is often associated with the cold. When with white, blue is associated with ice and snow; and by extension, winter.
  • Blue can be associated with France, Quebec and the French Language. The term Les Bleus is often used in a sporting context. In all but motor sports, the Italian colour is light blue, and Italian athletes are called Azzurri.
  • Gradients of Blue and other smooth, relaxing visual techniques incorporating Blue are considered calming and soothing.
  • Blue is often a colour used to symbolize honesty and trustworthiness. Connected to this, blue traditionally is associated with the Christian virtue faith. Hence, it may also mean naivité, being "blue-eyed". In Scandinavia this expression is used for people who are easily tricked or cheated, and in Japanese the word "aoi", meaning "blue", also indicates innocence and inexperience. The German word for blue is used for "drunk" e.g. "Ich bin blau" – "I'm drunk".
  • Blue is associated with the eastern direction in traditional East Asian cosmology.
  • In Thailand, Blue is associated with Friday on the Thai solar calendar. Anyone may wear blue on Fridays and anyone born on a Friday may adopt blue as their colour. The Thai language, however, is one that has had trouble distinguishing blue from green. The default word for Blue was recently สีน้ำเงิน literally, the colour of silver, a poetical reference to the silvery sheen of the deep blue sea. It now means Navy Blue, and the default word is now สีฟ้า literally, the colour of the sky.[10]

See also

References

1. ^ W3C TR CSS3 Color Module, HTML4 color keywords
2. ^ Merriam-Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary Springfield, Mass.:1984--Merriam-Webster Page 319
3. ^ Swami Panchadasi The Human Aura: Astral Colors and Thought Forms Des Plaines, Illinois, USA:1912--Yogi Publications Society Page 36
4. ^ Oslie, Pamalie Life Colors: What the Colors in Your Aura Reveal Novato, California:2000--New World Library Blue Auras: Pages 117-130
5. ^ Numbers 15:38.
6. ^ Mishneh Torah, Tzitzit 2:1; Commentary on Numbers 15:38.
7. ^ Numbers Rabbah 14:3; Hullin 89a.
8. ^ Exodus 24:10; Ezekiel 1:26; Hullin 89a.
9. ^ Numbers 4:6-12.
10. ^ [1]

External links

Web colours blackgraysilverwhiteredmaroonpurplefuchsiagreenlimeoliveyelloworangebluenavytealaqua
 
   
Alice blueAzureBaby blueBlueCeruleanCerulean blueCobalt blueCornflower blueDark blueDenimDodger blueIndigo
            
International Klein BlueLight blueMidnight blueNavy bluePeriwinklePersian bluePowder bluePrussian blueRoyal blueSapphireSteel blueUltramarine
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sRGB is a standard RGB (Red Green Blue) color space created cooperatively by HP and Microsoft for use on monitors, printers, and the Internet. It was originally proposed in 1995 by Ralf Kuron of FOGRA as a pragmatic approach in connection to ICC.
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Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 625–750 nm.
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Green is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nm. It is considered one of the additive primary colors.
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Color or colour[1] (see spelling differences) is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, yellow, blue, black, etc.
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In psychology, sensation is the first stage in the biochemical and neurologic events that begins with the impinging of a stimulus upon the receptor cells of a sensory organ, which then leads to perception, the mental state that is reflected in statements like "I see a uniformly
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In physics, wavelength is the distance between repeating units of a propagating wave of a given frequency. It is commonly designated by the Greek letter lambda (λ). Examples of wave-like phenonomena are light, water waves, and sound waves.
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1 nanometre =
SI units
010−9 m 010−3 μm
US customary / Imperial units
010−9 ft 010−9 in
A nanometre (American spelling: nanometer, symbol nm
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RGB color model is an additive model in which red, green, and blue (often used in additive light models) are combined in various ways to reproduce other colors. The name of the model and the abbreviation ‘RGB’ come from the three primary colors, red, green, and blue and
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Light is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength that is visible to the eye (visible light). In a scientific context, the word "light" is sometimes used to refer to the entire electromagnetic spectrum.
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In physics, wavelength is the distance between repeating units of a propagating wave of a given frequency. It is commonly designated by the Greek letter lambda (λ). Examples of wave-like phenonomena are light, water waves, and sound waves.
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additive primary colors of a CRT color video display]] Primary colors are sets of colors that can be combined to make a useful range (gamut) of colors. For human applications, three are often used; for additive combination of colors, as in overlapping projected lights or in
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Navy blue is an especially dark shade of the color blue. Some people mistake navy blue for black, especially when concerning clothing, most notably the navy blue pinstripes of the New York Yankees home uniform.
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Cyan (from Greek κυανός, meaning "blue") may be used as the name of any of a number of a range of colors in the blue/green part of the spectrum.
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Complementary colors are pairs of colors that are of “opposite” hue in some color model. The exact hue “complementary” to a given hue depends on the model in question, and perceptually uniform, additive, and subtractive color models, for example, have
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Color or colour[1] (see spelling differences) is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, yellow, blue, black, etc.
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Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M (long- and medium-wavelength) cone cells of the retina about equally, but does not significantly stimulate the S
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HSL and HSV (also called HSB) are two related representations of points in an RGB color space, which attempt to describe perceptual color relationships more accurately than RGB, while remaining computationally simple.
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ART is a three-letter acronym that can mean:

Medicine

  • Antiretroviral therapy. It is used in the treatment of HIV infection.
  • assisted reproductive technology

Other

  • Adaptive resonance theory

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orange occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum at a wavelength of about 585 – 620 nm, and has a hue of 30° in HSV colour space. The complementary colour of orange is azure, a slightly greenish blue.
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Munsell color system is a color space that specifies colors based on three color dimensions, hue, value (lightness), and chroma (color purity or colorfulness). It was created by Professor Albert H. Munsell in the first decade of the 20th century.
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RGB color model is an additive model in which red, green, and blue (often used in additive light models) are combined in various ways to reproduce other colors. The name of the model and the abbreviation ‘RGB’ come from the three primary colors, red, green, and blue and
..... Click the link for more information.
Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 625–750 nm.
..... Click the link for more information.
Green is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nm. It is considered one of the additive primary colors.
..... Click the link for more information.
In color science, there are two meanings of the term absolute color space:
  • A color space in which the perceptual difference between colors is directly related to distances between colors as represented by points in the color space.

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sRGB is a standard RGB (Red Green Blue) color space created cooperatively by HP and Microsoft for use on monitors, printers, and the Internet. It was originally proposed in 1995 by Ralf Kuron of FOGRA as a pragmatic approach in connection to ICC.
..... Click the link for more information.
A color name is a noun, noun phrase that refers to a specific color. The color name may refer to human perception of that color (which is affected by visual context), or of an underlying physical property (such as a specific wavelength of visible light).
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Middle English}}}
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: enm
ISO 639-3: enm

Middle English is the name given by historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman invasion of 1066
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Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories corresponding roughly to the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from around 1000 to 1300.
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Germanic languages are a group of related languages constituting a branch of the Indo-European (IE) language family. The common ancestor of all languages comprising this branch is Proto-Germanic, spoken in approximately the latter mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age Northern Europe.
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Old High German}}}
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: goh
ISO 639-3: goh The term Old High German (OHG, German: Althochdeutsch, german abbr. Ahd.
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