Red | Description, Etymology, & Facts - Encyclopedia Britannica

red, in physics, the longest wavelength of light discernible to the human eye. It falls in the range of 620–750 nanometres in the visible spectrum. In art, red is a colour on the conventional colour wheel, located between violet and orange and opposite green, its complementary colour.

Red was the first basic colour term added to languages after black and white. The word red derives from Sanskrit rudhira and Proto-Germanic rauthaz. One of the first written records of the term is from an Old English translation (897 ce) of Pope St. Gregory the Great’s Pastoral Care: “On thæs sacerdes hrægle sceoldœn hangian bellan & ongemong thæm bellum reade apla” (“On the priest’s robes should hang bells and among the bells red pomegranates”).

Pigments for red come from madder, red lead, red ochre, cinnabar, and artificial chemical compounds. The red pigment used for the figures’ robes in Titian’s altarpiece The Assumption (1516–18) is vermilion, which is derived from ground cinnabar.

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In addition to the colour wheel, various other colour systems have been used to classify red. Before the invention of colour photography, Werner’s Nomenclature of Colour (1814) was frequently used by scientists attempting to accurately describe colours observed in nature. In that book the so-called tint “Scarlet Red” is compared to the “Scarlet Ibis or Curlew,” the “Large red Oriental Poppy,” and “Light red Cinnaber.” In the Munsell colour system—adopted in the early 20th century to standardize colour, usually for industry—one of the many variations of red is identified as 7.5R 4/20.