Tag Archives: cerulean

How to Describe Colours

One way to get higher marks in your 11+ or 13+ creative writing paper is to use better words for colours. Most pupils I’ve taught tend to forget them or just use basic words like brown or blue, but what about mahogany or cerulean…?!

It Pays to be Different

When I teach Common Entrance candidates how to write stories, one of the things I tell them is that it pays to be different. Far too often, I see 10-year-old boys living in London writing about 10-year-old boys living in London! That can’t be good for their grades. Examiners want to see something different—something better…

The Value of Colours

There are many ways to write a good story and get high marks, but describing colours is a great chance to use ‘wow’ words or ‘golden’ words, and you can do it for almost anything or anyone: cars, walls, skies, hair or eyes. Once you know the trick, it’s easy to sprinkle your stories with charcoal suits, burgundy ties and caramel complexions!

Colour Thesaurus

To learn better words for colours, it helps to group them into primary colours (red, blue and yellow) and secondary colours (green, orange and purple). Here you go…

Primary

🔴 Red

  • Crimson
  • Scarlet
  • Ruby
  • Cherry
  • Vermilion
  • Burgundy
  • Carmine
  • Rose
  • Maroon
  • Claret

🔵 Blue

  • Navy
  • Indigo
  • Sapphire
  • Azure
  • Cerulean
  • Cobalt
  • Sky Blue
  • Teal
  • Turquoise
  • Royal Blue

🟡 Yellow

  • Gold
  • Amber
  • Canary
  • Lemon
  • Mustard
  • Saffron
  • Maize
  • Daffodil
  • Flaxen
  • Ochre

Secondary

🟢 Green (Blue + Yellow)

  • Emerald
  • Jade
  • Lime
  • Olive
  • Mint
  • Forest
  • Moss
  • Chartreuse
  • Seafoam
  • Fern

🟠 Orange (Red + Yellow)

  • Tangerine
  • Coral
  • Peach
  • Amber
  • Apricot
  • Carrot
  • Pumpkin
  • Persimmon
  • Rust
  • Marigold

🟣 Purple / Violet (Red + Blue)

  • Lavender
  • Lilac
  • Amethyst
  • Plum
  • Mauve
  • Orchid
  • Violet
  • Magenta
  • Wine
  • Aubergine

Sample Questions

  1. What three different words for red?
  2. What three different words for blue?
  3. What three different words for yellow?
  4. What three different words for green?
  5. What three different words for orange?
  6. What three different words for purple?
  7. What are three colour adjectives for someone’s hair?
  8. What are three colour adjectives for someone’s eyes?
  9. What are three colour adjectives for someone’s skin?
  10. What’s your favourite colour adjective?

 

 

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