Colorful Vocabulary

Which of these is not related to blue?

• indigo

• azure

• canary

• cerulean

• sapphire

Answer explanation

According to a Yougov.com artilcle in 2015, blue was the most popular favorite color in ten countries. Who knows, maybe canaries like blue skies, but the birds themselves are definitely not blue.

Which TWO of these color-bird collocations would not be marked "redundant" by a discerning editor?

• blue indigo bunting

• green peacock

• yellow canary

• red cardinal

• purple parakeet

Answer explanation

There are lots of colors of parakeet: green, blue, red, and even purple. However, in describing colors, parakeet is the only shade of green that shares its name with a bird.

Oddly enough, there is a shade of purple called early bird, but no species of birds associated with it.

Which of these gems is purple?

• sapphire

• emerald

• topaz

• amethyst

Answer explanation

Amethyst is the birthstone for February

Which of these is the birthflower of October?

• cornflower

• juniper

• marigold

• rose

• violet

Answer explanation

Marigolds are the flower for those born in October.

Which of these is not a shade of yellow?

• xanthic

• prasinus

• marigold

• amber

• flaxen

Answer explanation

Prasinus, which comes from the Greek and Latin, is a shade of green. This emerald tree monitor is of the varanus prasinus family.

Which of these color words has Greek roots?

• azure

• verdant

• xanthic

• vermillion

• lilac

Answer explanation

Xanthic is an adjective often used to describe flowers that have a yellowish tint. If you are lucky enough to play it as the first word in Scrabble, you could get 54 points.

Which of these fruits is generally NOT used as an adjective describing the color of something?

• blueberry

• lime

• lemon

• cherry

• plum

Which of these words with Latin or Greek roots was used to describe any brightly colored cloth in the Middle Ages.

• cerulean

• prasinus

• xanthic

• scarlet

• mauve

Which color, which begins with the letter 'a' is sometimes considered a gem when it is, in fact, hardened resin?

• azure

• amber

• amethyst

Answer explanation

Hungary has several amber deposits and are doing research of amber that has preserved bugs for 85 million years.

In English, if a person says he is ____, then he is sad

• blue

• green

• yellow

• red

• purple