magenta

Everyday

1. Magenta is a bright purplish-red or pinkish-purple colour. tree →
2. (science, printing) Magenta is one of the main colours of printer ink, with cyan, yellow and black (CMYK). tree →

In the lessons

In art and computing lessons it is used in colour mixing: in light, red + blue light make magenta; in printing, magenta ink is a primary colour. It is named after the town of Magenta in Italy, where a battle took place in 1859, the year the dye was discovered. Phrases: «magenta ink», «bright magenta».

Examples

• She painted the flowers bright magenta. tree →
• The printer needs a new magenta cartridge. tree →
• Red and blue light together make magenta. tree →
• My new scarf is magenta. tree →
• Mixing magenta and yellow ink makes red. tree →
• The sunset sky was streaked with magenta. tree →

Note

Uncountable when it is the colour name. Pronounced «muh-JEN-tuh». Interesting fact: there is no single wavelength of light for magenta; our brains make it when we see red and blue light together. Similar: fuchsia, pink, purple.