Chromatlas

Unit 9 · Designer's vocabulary

Canary

HEX

#FFEF00

RGB

255 239 0

HSL

56° 100% 50%

CMYK

0 6 100 0

Canary or Gold?

Lighter and greener than gold, a pure yellow.

Compare: Gold

Language

The canary is named after the islands, not the other way round. The Romans called them Canariae Insulae, probably 'islands of dogs': Pliny reports huge dogs there, though the name may instead come from a local people. Wild canaries are a streaky yellow-green; the clear canary yellow came from breeding.

History

British coal miners carried canaries underground from around 1900 as an early warning: the birds succumbed to carbon monoxide before people did. Electronic detectors replaced them in 1986.

Kin

• Teal: Another color named after a bird
• Yellow: A yellow bred into the bird, not born wild

Sources

• Wikipedia, 'Canary Islands' (Canariae Insulae; Pliny)
• Wikipedia, 'Domestic canary' (coal mines, c. 1900 to 1986)

Open in Chromatlas

Hex values are screen approximations. Every page lists its sources.