Violet (color)

Violet is the color of light at the short wavelength end of the visible spectrum. It is one of the seven colors that Isaac Newton labeled when dividing the spectrum of visible light in 1672. Violet light has a wavelength between approximately 380 and 450 nanometers. The color's name is derived from the Viola genus of flowers.

In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, violet is produced by mixing red and blue light, with more blue than red. In the RYB color model historically used by painters, violet is created with a combination of red and blue pigments and is located between blue and purple on the color wheel. In the CMYK color model used in printing, violet is created with a combination of magenta and cyan pigments, with more magenta than cyan. On the RGB/CMY(K) color wheel, violet is located between blue and magenta.

Violet is closely associated with purple. In optics, violet is a spectral color (referring to the color of different single wavelengths of light), whereas purple is the color of various combinations of red and blue (or violet) light, some of which humans perceive as similar to violet. In common usage, both terms are used to refer to a variety of colors between blue and red in hue.

Violet has a long history of association with royalty, originally because Tyrian purple dye was extremely expensive in antiquity. The emperors of Rome wore purple togas, as did the Byzantine emperors.At one point in history, purple bells were also used in the flag of the Sassanid Empire. During the Middle Ages, violet was worn by bishops and university professors and was often used in art as the color of the robes of the Virgin Mary. In Chinese painting, the color violet represents the "unity transcending the duality of Yin and yang" and "the ultimate harmony of the universe". In New Age thinking, purple and/or violet is associated with the crown chakra. One European study suggests that violet is the color people most often associate with extravagance, individualism, vanity and ambiguity

The word violet as a color name derives from the Middle English and Old French violete, in turn from the Latin viola, the name of the violet flower. The first recorded use as a color name in English was in 1370.

Violet is closely associated with purple. In optics, violet is a spectral color: It refers to the color of any different single wavelength of light on the short wavelength end of the visible spectrum (between approximately 380 and 435 nanometers), whereas purple is the color of various combinations of red, blue and violet light, some of which some humans perceive as similar to violet. In common usage, both terms are used to refer to a variety of colors between blue and red in hue. Historically, violet has tended to be used for bluer hues and purple for redder hues. In the traditional color wheel used by painters, violet and purple are both placed between red and blue, with violet being closer to blue.

Violet is at one end of the spectrum of visible light, between blue light, which has a longer wavelength, and ultraviolet light, which has a shorter wavelength and is not visible to humans. Violet wavelengths are between approximately 380 and 435 nanometers. The color violet appears dark because the S cones, which contribute very little to the perception of lightness, do not have a high sensitivity to violet light. The reason why to (typical trichromat) humans violet light appears slightly reddish compared to spectral blue (despite spectral red being at the other end of the visible spectrum) is, according to the opponent process hypothesis of color vision, that the S-cone type (i.e. the one most sensitive to short wavelengths) contributes some red to the red-versus-green opponent channel (which at the longer blue wavelengths gets counteracted by the M-cone type). Computer and television screens, using the RGB color model, cannot produce spectral violet light and instead they combine blue light at high intensity with red light at less intensity.

Monochromatic lamps emitting spectral-violet wavelengths can be roughly approximated by the color named electric violet, which is a composed-light violet producing a similar effect to the human eye.^{[citation needed]}