What Color Is Khaki, Anyway? | Hacker News Reader

What Color Is Khaki, Anyway?

dampfkraft.com

63 pointspolm2341 comments

It's not just Japanese. I'm French and I had no idea khaki was some kind of beige in English. In French it's the same colour as in Japanese. As far as I know, it's also the case in Dutch at least (Dutch, or Flanders, maybe it depends on the place rather than the language).

In Greek too

True. In Greek it actually means Army Green (https://www.colorhexa.com/4b5320)

In Swedish it is also an unsaturated, earthy, green, or "military" green.

Really? For me it's more beige, and I'm swedish.

I'm Swedish too, and grew up with the same understanding as the parent poster. Only in recent years have I understood that khaki can refer to both a military type green or sand like beige color.

I asked my wife, who knows nothing about this thread, how she would describe khaki.

"Oh, beige-green, sort of."

:-)

According to NE thesaurus:

"ljus, gul-brun-grå färg som påminner om (väg)damm el. sand: kakifärgad HIST.: sedan 1904"

Swede here. I asked my wife too, her reply is that the color "khaki" is a shade of green - "khakigrönt". But the specific style of pants - "khakibyxor" - are generally beige.

In Polish it’s the same as in Japanese.

Beige in north America, not in English.

Same. In Oz khaki is military green.

I'm Australian and khaki for me is the same as the picture centre left in the article's top picture (it looks like some kind of voluminous skirt, the model is wearing red socks).

Definitely not military green (which I would call olive drab, but that may be from building too many Airfix models as a child).

Khaki is also not the fine selection of beige as seen in the chinos picture in the article.

Edit: This colour is what I could call khaki: https://www.betabrand.com/media/catalog/product/b/r/british_...

Hrm, yours is more greeny-brown, mine is more browny-green, but I think we're on the same page. See you at Aussie Disposals!

Another color naming confusion is the French "pourpre" vs English "purple". Pourpre in French has more deep red in it than the shade of magenta described by purple. (Don't get me started on violet).

would 'pourpre' be burgundy in english?

Pretty close… I'd say it is between burgundy and maroon, closer to burgundy but with a slight purple/violet tint that makes it not exactly burgundy.

Edit: "maroon" can be confusing to French speakers since "marron" in French means brown.

> (Don't get me started on violet).

Well, now you've piqued my interested. Please, get started on violet!

People are using the same name for two distinct colors, a mix of blue and red on the one hand, and on the other hand the pure spectral color after blue and indigo, which by definition doesn't have any red in it, being on the other side of the spectrum. Also, modern electronics based on RGB primaries can't display violet.

Same in Turkish. It's also called military green. Maybe the North American use is the real exception.

Nope, it's also beige at least in Danish.

Seconded. Another Frenchman here. "Kaki" means greenish in French, although Amazon seems confused:

https://www.amazon.fr/s?k=pantalon+kaki

I'm from Spain and I always thought khaki was the beigeish one. Not sure if this is common there though.

In Italy it is normally intended as a beige as well.

It is actually also an "official" web color #C3B091

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaki

The "light khaki" is definitely "yellowish", whilst the "dark khaki" is someewhat more "greenish".

It is entirely possible that the confusion, at least in English, came continuing to call khaki the uniforms even if the colour was actually later changed to a grey green called "olive drab".

For more than four decades I have done the greater part part of my reading (the far greater part - maybe 90 percent) in various shades of English. Only a year or two ago did I come across a sentence which somehow suggested that khaki did not necessarily designate the militarily greenish color I had always assumed because that's what it means, period, in my native Danish. Or used to mean. Things may be slipping with the massive encroachment of English into everyday speaking and writing we're seeing these days.

"Khaak" is Persian for soil, "Khaki" can mean either dust-covered or color of soil, so typically a light shade of brown in more arid regions.

The article says it has Hindoustani roots

It’s true that in Farsi it means earth colored as well

The article isn't wrong, it's just incomplete.

"Khaki is a loanword from Hindustani (Urdu or Hindi) ख़ाकी/خاکی 'soil-colored', which in turn comes from Persian خاک [xɒːk] khâk 'soil' + ی- (adjectival ending); it came into English via the British Indian Army."

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaki

Hindi/Urdu native speaker here: "khaak" means dust, not soil exactly. I believe it is the same in Farsi as well. "Khaaki" would mean 'dust-coloured'.

For some background reference.

Khaki is a word that has its origins (edit: English language origin) in the Anglo-Boer War. The British in all their pomp and ceremony decided to invade what was then the two Boer Republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal—by wearing bright red coloured jackets.

It did not take long before the Brits understood the other word that was introduced into English at that time—the "commando". Needless to say, the red jackets gave way to Khakis and even after the war the colour remained popular in Southern Africa.

In fact, the word Khaki (unlike other words in Southern Africa) today does not have any negative connotations (with the British) and my grandmother commented on more than one occation that she thought I looked rather dapper in full Khakis.

In South Africa today Khaki can mean any of the two colours as in the article, but I would say it is more common for Khaki to be used to refer to a sand brown colour.

> Khaki is a word that has its origins (edit: English language origin) in the Anglo-Boer War.

Wikipedia says earlier:

> In 1848, a khaki uniform was introduced. [5] Subsequently, all regiments, whether British or Indian, serving in the region had adopted khaki uniforms for active service and summer dress. The original khaki fabric was a closely twilled cloth of linen or cotton.

[...]

> Khaki-colored uniforms were used officially by British troops for the first time during the 1868 Expedition to Abyssinia, when Indian troops traveled to Ethiopia.[8] Subsequently, the British Army adopted khaki for colonial campaign dress and it was used in the Mahdist War (1884–89) and Second Boer War (1899–1902).

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaki

There were two Boer Wars and during the first one they largely wore red uniforms. But yes, the history intertwines with the other British colonies, but at the time of their conflict with the Boers they had not at first switched to Khakis. At least, this is how the common knowledge story goes.

But it would be more accurate to say it origins were, amongst other conflicts, forged in the two Boer wars.

Another thing to take into account was that the Anglo-Boer war from 1899—1902 was (prior to WW1) one of the most expensive and critical wars for the British and could perhaps have been the most documented first use of Khakis. Of course, the Boers had been using Khakis (but not so-called) all along.

Anthor interesting thing is that this was also one of the earliers incarnations of trench warfare.

And concentration camps. And scorched earth.

The empire really wanted that gold.

Just in Humor - Khaki color is the color of the general landscape of your country. If you are in the North Pole, it is 'white'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaki lists three tones of Khaki.

No one color as it referred to the cotton fabric used to make uniforms.

The exact color or colors it would be associated with for a particular country would depend on what color of uniforms if elected to use.

I am 40. Starting this year there was two work functions that required "khakis". And it took some online searching to figure out exactly what this meant. At first, I was confused about why the color mattered - thinking it was color. Do my cargo pants count? Can they be shorts? This article leaves this still inconclusive.

When I asked the boss, he said "just don't wear jeans". I was still confused, because I don't own jeans.

Suit pants seemed like too much, cargo pants too little. But the cargo pants I have are exactly like the "khakis" I've seen, only they have two more pockets. Same material. Same color. So, I thought, is "khakis" a non-English word for "less pockets" or "Four Pockets"? Still very confused.

I would say that when people say “khakis” they actually mean “chinos”. Chinos are the type of pants, khaki is the usual color (a quick google search will corroborate!).

It’s just a color. Usually beige-y. Your boss wants you to wear something that looks not casual but not like a suit. That’s all that matters.

I was surprised there has been no mention that stores will happily offer to sell you khaki pants in many different colors, including red and blue. Eg: https://m.kohls.com/product/prd-3386796/mens-dockers-signatu... I’ve just taken to accepting that is something I won’t be able to resolve.

There was a mention:

> This is still the basic meaning in English, though sometimes "khaki pants" refers to chino pants regardless of color.

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