Unit 10 · Designer's vocabulary

Chartreuse

HEX: #7FFF00
RGB: 127 255 0
HSL: 90° 100% 50%
CMYK: 50 0 100 0

Chartreuse or Lime?

Greener than lime, halfway between yellow and green.

Compare: Lime

Named after a French liqueur made by Carthusian monks.

History

Chartreuse was a liqueur first. In 1605 a French nobleman gave the Carthusian monks near Grenoble an alchemical manuscript for an elixir of long life. The monks began working on it in 1737 and fixed the elixir's formula in 1764. It uses about 130 herbs, plants and flowers, and only two monks at a time know the whole recipe. Green Chartreuse dates from 1840; the color name followed in 1884.

Kin

Burgundy: Another color named after a French drink
Yellow: The monks also make a yellow Chartreuse, milder and sweeter
Lime: Its yellower twin, named after a fruit

Sources

Wikipedia, 'Chartreuse (liqueur)' (1605 manuscript; 1737; 1840; color name 1884)

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