Violaceous

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. of, relating to, or having the color violet or purple
2. possessing a hue that is violet, purple, or containing shades between blue and red
3. characterized by or displaying a coloration in the violet to purple range

Etymology: "Violaceous" is a plain Latin-derived formation: it comes from Latin "violāceus," meaning "violet-coloured." That Latin adjective is built on "viola," the violet flower, so the English word simply carries the flower's name into the realm of colour, describing something that is violet in hue rather than a flower itself. The word is a learned borrowing, the sort of term that English writers drew straight from Latin when they needed precise vocabulary for colour and natural description. It sits alongside related colour terms of the same kind, where the Latin adjective ending "-āceus," meaning "resembling" or "of the nature of," signals a resemblance to the base noun. In this case the base is the violet, so "violaceous" means "having the character of a violet."

Synonyms: purple, lavender, lilac

Antonyms: colorless, white