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Glite Dictionary
purplish-black

purplish-black

3.4
A very dark color that looks slightly purple
  • adjective
  • /ˈpɜrplɪʃ blæk/
translation icon : negro purpúreo
  • Her eyes, purplish-black in the candlelight, gave away no surprise or alarm.
  • purplish-black berries
  • purplish-black stems

Examples

  • "Virgo and Libra appear in the 'purplish black' sky."

    Academic text (1998)

  • The sky turned a stunning purplish-black as the sun set behind the mountains.

  • She wore a dress that was purplish-black, shimmering in the soft light of the evening.

  • The artist chose a purplish-black color for her latest painting, evoking a sense of mystery.

Synonyms

purple-black
vspurplish-black
1 3.3

Very dark black with a slight purple tint

is the same meaning but uses an -ish form instead of a plain adjective
violet-black
vspurplish-black
6.1

A black color with a faint purple tint

uses a general purple shade rather than a bluer violet tint

How Purple

purple
229 1.0
purplish-black
3.4
black
159 1.0

Surface Forms

purplish-black positive
purplish-blacker comparative
purplish-blackest superlative

Morphology

purplish-black = purplish + black (transparent) = purplish + black

A straightforward compound of the adjective 'purplish' and 'black', meaning black with a purple tinge.

Etymology

Purplish-black is made from the color purple plus the little ending -ish and the word black, where -ish means 'somewhat'. So it means black with a small touch of purple, like black paint with one drop of purple added.