A color term, also known as a color name, is a word or phrase that refers to a specific color.

The color term may refer to human perception of that color (which is affected by visual context), or to an underlying physical property (such as a specific wavelength of visible light). There are also numerical systems of color specification, referred to as color spaces. However, Brent Berlin and Paul Kay, in a classic study (1969) of worldwide color naming,[1] argued that these differences can be organized into a coherent hierarchy, and that there are a limited number of universal "basic color terms" which begin to be used by individual cultures in a relatively fixed order. Berlin and Kay based their analysis on a comparison of color words in 20 languages from around the world. To be considered a basic color term, the words had to be

monolexemic ("green", but not "light green" or "forest green"), high-frequency, and agreed upon by speakers of that language. (Wkpd)

Their analysis showed that, in a culture with only two terms, the two terms would mean roughly 'dark' (covering black, dark colors and cold colors such as blue) and 'bright' (covering white, light colors and warm colors such as red). All languages with three colors terms would add red to this distinction. Thus, the three most basic colors are black, white, and red. Additional color terms are added in a fixed order as a language evolves: first one of green or yellow; then the other of green or yellow; then blue. All languages distinguishing six colors contain terms for black, white, red, green, yellow, and blue. These colors roughly correspond to the sensitivities of the retinal ganglion cells, leading Berlin and Kay to argue that color naming is not merely a cultural phenomenon, but is one that is also constrained by biologythat is, language is shaped by perception. As languages develop, they next adopt a term for brown; then terms for orange, pink, purple and/or gray, in any order.[3] Finally, a basic term for light blue appears. The proposed evolutionary trajectories as of 1999 are as follows. 80% of sampled languages lie along the central path.[4] IV V white white red red yellow yellow green black/blue/green black/blue white lightwarm white red (white/yellow/red) white yellow red/yellow red/yellow green white darkcool blue/green blue red (black/blue/green) black/blue/green black black yellow white blue/green red black yellow/green/blue black I II III

Today every natural language that has words for colors is considered to have from two to twelve basic color terms.