indigo : pea :: sepia : cuttlefish

Sepia is just that brownish color you can use to make your digital photos look old, right? Guess where the word comes from!

It’s actually the Greek word for cuttlefish. ((from the Oxford American Dictionary))

sepia |ˈsēpēə| noun
a reddish-brown color associated particularly with monochrome photographs of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

  • a brown pigment prepared from a black fluid secreted by cuttlefish, used in monochrome drawing and in watercolors.
  • a drawing done with this pigment.
  • a blackish fluid secreted by a cuttlefish as a defensive screen.

(And indigo dye comes from a tropical plant of the pea family. ((Oxford English Dictionary, n. (a.))) )

September 19, 2007. words. No Comments.

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