How colors got their names
1. Warm-up discussion
Discuss these questions:
- What is your favorite color and why? Does it have a special meaning to you?
- How important is color in your daily life? Think about the clothes you wear, the food you eat, or your home decor.
- Do you think colors can affect people's moods? Give an example.
2. Listening: The origin of color names
Watch the first part of the video (0:00 - 1:14) and fill in the gaps with the exact words you hear.
The earliest humans didn't have words for colors. They had words for objects and actions. And it took tens of thousands of years for those words to into the names of the colors we use today. Looking back, gives us a glimpse at how those early people saw the world around them.
A landmark study by Brent Berlin and Paul Kay found that people across the world developed their words for colors in more or less the same order. If a language only had two words for colors, they were always black and white. If a language had only three color words, they were black, white and red. Yellow and green came next in either order, then blue, brown and so on. This hierarchy closely matches human . After all, what could be more visually fundamental than the dichotomy between light and ? And we're hardwired to have a strong emotional reaction to red, as it has a lot of survival from food to sex to violence.
3. Key vocabulary from the video
Drag the terms from the word bank to match them with their correct definitions.
4. Grammar focus: Past simple passive
When we talk about history, the person or thing that performed the action is often unknown or less important than the action itself. In these cases, we use the Past Simple Passive.
Structure: was/were + past participle
Example (Active): "Portuguese merchants imported the fruit."
Example (Passive): "The fruit was imported by Portuguese merchants."
Choose the correct sentence structure:
1. The word 'orange' for the color _______ from the name of the fruit.
2. A special purple dye _______ from a certain type of shellfish.
3. In the 15th century, Portuguese merchants _______ an exotic fruit to Europe.
4. The true name for the bear _______ to history because of superstition.
5. Ancient hunters _______ a euphemism for the bear because they were afraid to say its real name.
6. It _______ by researchers that languages develop color words in a specific order.
5. Practice with idioms
Colors are often used in idioms to describe feelings and situations. Complete the sentences using the idioms below.
2. When he saw the scratch on his new car, he started to
3. She's been ever since she heard the sad news.
4. I was when I saw her beautiful new apartment.
6. Vocabulary in context
Use the vocabulary words from exercise 3 to complete the sentences below.
2. To be polite, he used the "let go" instead of saying the employee was fired.
3. In the army, there is a strict that everyone must follow.
4. The story presented a simple between good and evil.
5. After years of practice, she became very at playing the piano.
6. Dogs the world differently than humans because they can't see as many colors.
7. Grammar practice: Active to passive
Rewrite the following sentences in the past simple passive. Be careful with singular and plural subjects.
(Passive)
2. (Active) A Portuguese merchant introduced the orange to Europe.
(Passive)
3. (Active) Ancient hunters used a different name for the bear.
(Passive)
8. Speaking practice: What's in a name?
Discuss these questions with a partner. Use the vocabulary and phrases from this lesson.
- The video says the word for 'orange' (the fruit) came before the word for the color. Can you think of any other colors that might be named after objects (e.g., lavender, peach, turquoise)?
- Ancient people created a euphemism for the bear ("the brown one") out of superstition. Do people in your culture avoid saying certain words? What do they say instead?
- If you could invent a new color name, what would it be, what would the color look like, and what would you name it after?
