Colourfastness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The ability of a dye or pigment to retain its intensity and not fade when subjected to washing, sunlight, or other environmental influences
2. A feature of materials that prevents color degradation from exposure to laundering, UV light, and wear over time
3. The quality of a fabric or material that allows its color to remain bright and stable despite washing or exposure to sunlight

Etymology: Colourfastness is a plain compound: the adjective "colourfast," meaning that a dye or pigment holds its colour, with the suffix "-ness" added to turn that quality into a noun. The adjective itself is built from "colour" and "fast," where "fast" in this sense means firmly fixed or unlikely to change, the same sense found in "steadfast" and in "fast colours" in the dye trade. The "-ness" ending is an old Germanic suffix that forms abstract nouns from adjectives, and it has been productive in English since Old English times. The suffix traces back through Proto-Germanic to a Proto-Indo-European root, and it passed through Old English "-nes" and Middle English "-nesse" before reaching the modern form. Its use here is routine: a material that is colourfast has colourfastness, and the same pattern produces words such as "fastness" and "darkness."

Synonyms: fade resistance, color stability, colorfast, lightfastness, stability

Antonyms: fading, discoloration, bleaching, instability, deterioration