magenta

Meanings

1. A color which is close to the equal mixture of red and blue which is an additive secondary color but a subtractive primary color evoked by the combination of red and light blue.

1. Having the color of fuchsia, fuchsine, light purple.

1. A town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Milan, Lombardy, Italy, site of the Battle of Magenta after which the color magenta was named.
2. A commune in Marne department, Grand Est, France, named after the Battle of Magenta.
3. A coastal locality in Central Coast council area, New South Wales, Australia.

Etymology

Borrowed from French magenta, from Italian Magenta, in commemoration of the Franco-Italian victory at the Battle of Magenta in 1859. An aniline dye in this colour had been invented the same year by French chemist François-Emmanuel Verguin and was named in honour of the battle. The town's name derives from Latin Castra Maxentia (“the camp named Maxentia”), referring to the emperor Maxentius. Compare Castra Regina for a similar appositional use of a proper noun with castra.