Carmine (color)

Short description: Very slightly purplish, deep red

Carmine
Powdered carmine pigment
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#960018
Source	Pourpre.com
ISCC–NBS descriptor	Vivid red

Carmine color is the general term for some deep red colors that are very slightly purplish but are generally slightly closer to red than the color crimson is. Some rubies are colored the color shown below as rich carmine. The deep dark red color shown at right as carmine is the color of the raw unprocessed pigment, but lighter, richer, or brighter colors are produced when the raw pigment is processed, some of which are shown below.

The first recorded use of carmine as a color name in English was in 1523.

Variations of carmine

Wild watermelon

Wild Watermelon
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#FC6C85
Source	Crayola
ISCC–NBS descriptor	Deep pink

The color wild watermelon is displayed at right.

Ultra red is a color formulated by Crayola in 1972. In 1990, the name of the color was changed to wild watermelon.

With a hue code of 350, this color is within the range of carmine colors.

This color is supposed to be fluorescent, but there is no mechanism for displaying fluorescence on a computer screen.

Radical red

Radical Red
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#FF355E
Source	Crayola
ISCC–NBS descriptor	Vivid red

The Crayola crayon color radical red is displayed at right.

The color radical red was formulated by Crayola in 1990.

With a hue code of 348, this color is within the range of carmine colors.

This color is supposed to be fluorescent, but there is no mechanism for displaying fluorescence on a computer screen.

Paradise pink

Paradise Pink
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#E63E62
Source	Pantone TPX
ISCC–NBS descriptor	Vivid red

Displayed at right is the color paradise pink.

The source of this color is the "Pantone Textile Paper eXtended (TPX)" color list, color #17-1755 TPX—Paradise Pink.

Since it has a hue code of 347, the color paradise pink is within the range of carmine colors.

Rich carmine

Rich Carmine
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#D70040
Source	Maerz and Paul
ISCC–NBS descriptor	Vivid red

The rich carmine color tone displayed at right matches the color shown as carmine in the 1930 book A Dictionary of Color (cited below). This color is also called Chinese carmine. This is the color usually referred to as carmine in fashion and interior design.

Spanish carmine

Spanish Carmine
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#D10047
Source	Gallego and Sanz
ISCC–NBS descriptor	Vivid red

Spanish carmine is the color that is called Carmin (the Spanish word for "carmine") in the Guía de coloraciones (Guide to colorations) by Rosa Gallego and Juan Carlos Sanz, a color dictionary published in 2005 that is widely popular in the Hispanophone realm.

Pictorial carmine

Pictorial Carmine
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#C30B4E
Source	Gallego and Sanz
ISCC–NBS descriptor	Vivid red

Pictorial carmine is the color that is called Carmín pictórico (Spanish for "pictorial carmine") in the Guía de coloraciones (Guide to colorations) by Rosa Gallego and Juan Carlos Sanz, a color dictionary published in 2005 that is widely popular in the Hispanophone realm.

This is a typical tone of carmine pigment used in painting.

Japanese carmine

Japanese Carmine
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#9D2933
Source	JTC
ISCC–NBS descriptor	Deep red

The color Japanese carmine is shown at right.

The name of this shade of carmine in Japanese is enji-iro (臙脂色), literally "cochineal/rouge color", as enji (臙脂) means rouge, the cosmetics. The insect is called enji-mushi (臙脂虫). The term enji is named after Yan, an ancient Chinese state during the Zhou dynasty, as it was considered that the use of rouge in China was originated from there, this was later adopted in Japanese.

Carmine in human culture

Crime scene investigation

• The name is often applied to descriptions of blood, because the dark carmine color of the raw pigment shown at the top of the page is the color of dried blood.

Music

• Carmine is one of the colors mentioned in Donovan's "Wear Your Love Like Heaven".
• Carmine red is second of two colors mentioned in Katatonia's song "Lethean".

Sports

• Carmine red and golden yellow are the official colors of Italian football/soccer team AS Roma.
• Carmine red and white are the traditional colors of the Latvia national teams.

Television

• In Chapter 37 of House of Cards Season 3, during an interview between author Thomas Yates and Claire Underwood, during which Claire Underwood is having blood drawn, Underwood asks what color could be used to describe the color of the blood flowing through the tube, and Yates says, "carmine." Underwood responds, "You must be a writer."

Film

• In Dragon Ball Super: Superhero, following the naming trend of all major figures within the Red Ribbon Army, the loyal assistant to Commander Magenta, is named Carmine, who also wears a suit of the same color.

National flags

• Carmine is the color used in the flag of Latvia.

See also

• RAL 3002 Carmine red
• List of colors