This Color Is Not Present Among The English Rainbow Colors

Which colors are actually different in English and Ukrainian rainbows?

This Color Is Not Present Among The English Rainbow Colors
TV SMPTE color bars / alamy.com

The article was posted: | 1 min read


There is a mnemonic phrase to help remember the order of the seven colors of the rainbow: Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain. This implies the following colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

As we can see, the indigo color is not present among the Ukrainian rainbow colors; instead, we have violet. The first known recorded use of indigo as a color name in English was in 1289, but indigo was first added to the list of rainbow colors by Isaac Newton.

In Ukrainian, there are two separate words: синій and блакитний. In English, there is no direct equivalent for блакитний; the closest match would be light blue. So, next time you try to say блакитний in English, remember, there's no exact color equivalent; it is simply a shade of blue.