Palettes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A selection or range of colors that an artist typically uses ; a flat surface used to hold and mix paints while creating art ; a customizable collection of tools or colors available in computer programs
2. The assortment of hues chosen by a painter for a piece ; a handheld board for blending various paint colors during work ; a digital set of choices or resources offered in software applications
3. The variety of colors that compose an artist's chosen palette ; a physical board serving as a mixing area for paints ; an interface panel presenting selectable options in graphical software

Etymology: "Palettes" is simply the plural of "palette," which English borrowed from French, where it carries the same sense. The French word is a doublet of "pallet," meaning two words that split from a single ancestor and took different routes into English. Both descend from the same Latin-derived root for a shovel or small flat board, which explains why a painter's flat mixing board and a wooden shipping platform share a family tree. The painting sense came from the board itself: the small flat surface on which a painter arranges and mixes colours. Over time the word grew to mean the colours chosen for a particular work, and then the mixing board's role as a set of tools and options carried over to digital software, where a "palette" is a panel of colours or tools to pick from.

Synonyms: color schemes, color boards