Coral
- HEX
- #FF7F50
- RGB
- 255 127 80
- HSL
- 16° 100% 66%
- CMYK
- 0 50 69 0
Coral or Salmon?
More orange and more vivid than salmon.
After red coral, worn as jewelry for thousands of years.
History
Red coral, Corallium rubrum, is the skeleton of tiny Mediterranean sea animals. It has been carved into beads and charms since antiquity, and European babies were long given coral amulets and teething rattles for luck and protection. Coral is recorded as a color in English from 1513.
Poetry
Ovid tells where coral came from. In the Metamorphoses, Perseus lays Medusa's severed head on a bed of seaweed, and the soft weed hardens to stone as it touches her.
Design
Pantone chose Living Coral as its Color of the Year for 2019.
Kin
- Salmon: Two pink-oranges named after sea creatures
- White: Stressed reef corals lose their algae and bleach white
- Peach: Another Pantone Color of the Year, 2024's Peach Fuzz
Sources
- Wikipedia, 'Coral (color)' (first use 1513, after Maerz & Paul)
- Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book 4
- Pantone, Color of the Year 2019: Living Coral 16-1546
Hex values are screen approximations. Every page lists its sources.