Gridelin

/ˈɡrɪdəlɪn/ noun

Definition

A gray color with a purple or violet tinge; a grayish purple or mauve shade.

Etymology

From French 'gris de lin,' meaning 'gray of linen.' The term combines 'gris' (gray) and 'lin' (linen), describing the natural color of undyed linen fabric.

Kelly Says

Gridelin is a color name that's basically vanished from modern fashion terminology, but it shows up constantly in Renaissance paintings and 18th-century fabric descriptions. It perfectly captures how people used to describe colors by comparing them to everyday textiles—'linen gray' made perfect sense before synthetic dyes.

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