A color intermediate between red and blue; traditionally associated with royalty, luxury, and nobility.
From Latin 'purpura', from Greek 'porphyra' referring to a shellfish that produced purple dye. This dye was extremely expensive, making purple clothing a symbol of wealth and power in ancient times.
Purple was literally worth more than gold in ancient Rome because it required thousands of murex shells to produce a small amount of dye. The phrase 'born to the purple' means born into royalty, since only emperors could afford purple clothing.
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