Purple - Etymology and Definitions

Etymology and Definitions

The word 'purple' comes from the Old English word purpul which derives from the Latin purpura, in turn from the Greek πορφύρα (porphura), name of the Tyrian purple dye manufactured in classical antiquity from a mucus secreted by the spiny dye-murex snail.

The first recorded use of the word 'purple' in English was in the year AD 975.

Like orange and silver, purple has no common word that rhymes with it.

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