purple.
A colour between red and blue; violet, though often closer to magenta.
Meaning & usage
A colour between red and blue; violet, though often closer to magenta.
Any non-spectral colour on the line of purples on a colour chromaticity diagram or a colour wheel between violet and red.
Cloth, or a garment, dyed a purple colour; especially, a purple robe, worn as an emblem of rank or authority; specifically, the purple robe or mantle worn by Ancient Roman emperors as the emblem of imperial dignity.
to put on the imperial purple
Imperial power.
Any of various species of mollusks from which Tyrian purple dye was obtained, especially the common dog whelk.
The purple haze cultivar of cannabis in the kush family, either pure or mixed with others, or by extension any variety of smoked marijuana.
Purpura.
Earcockle, a disease of wheat.
Any of the species of large butterflies, usually marked with purple or blue, of the genus Basilarchia (formerly Limenitis).
the banded purple
A cardinalate.
Ellipsis of purple drank.
Synonym of snakebite and black.
A purple dye or pigment.
A pen, pencil, crayon, etc., made of purple pigment.
Something, or a part of a thing, which is purple.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English purple, purpel, from Old English purpul (“purple”, adjective), taken from Old English purpure (“purple colour”, noun), from Latin purpura (“purple dye, shellfish”), from Ancient Greek πορφύρα (porphúra, “purple-fish”), perhaps of Semitic origin. Doublet of purpura and purpure. The sense of "imperial power" is from the wearing of the color purple by emperors and kings.
Of a purple hue.
Not predominantly red or blue, but having a mixture of Democrat and Republican support.
purple state
purple city
Mixed between social democrats and liberals.
Imperial; regal.
Blood-red; bloody.
Of language, extravagantly ornate, like purple prose.
Of a sector, lap, etc., completed in the fastest time so far in a given session.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English purple, purpel, from Old English purpul (“purple”, adjective), taken from Old English purpure (“purple colour”, noun), from Latin purpura (“purple dye, shellfish”), from Ancient Greek πορφύρα (porphúra, “purple-fish”), perhaps of Semitic origin. Doublet of purpura and purpure. The sense of "imperial power" is from the wearing of the color purple by emperors and kings.
To turn purple in colour.
To dye purple.
To clothe in purple.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English purple, purpel, from Old English purpul (“purple”, adjective), taken from Old English purpure (“purple colour”, noun), from Latin purpura (“purple dye, shellfish”), from Ancient Greek πορφύρα (porphúra, “purple-fish”), perhaps of Semitic origin. Doublet of purpura and purpure. The sense of "imperial power" is from the wearing of the color purple by emperors and kings.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.