Other forms: hues
Hue is the pure colour itself, apart from its lightness. A reddish hue, hue and saturation, every hue of blue.
In colour work the three measures are hue, saturation and brightness — hue is which colour, saturation is how strong and brightness is how light. Hue and cry is a separate old phrase for the pursuit of a criminal, and there hue means an outcry.
1nounhueThe pure colour itself, apart from lightness.
“The sky took on a pink hue as the sun went down.”
hue is a colour quality.
Old English hiew means appearance, form or colour, from a Germanic root. The word once covered shape as well as colour.
Proto-Indo-European
*kew-
Proto-Germanic
*hiwją — hue, form, shape, appearance; mildew
Proto-West Germanic
*hiwi
Old English
hīew — appearance, form, species, kind; apparition; hue, color; beauty; figure of speech
Middle English
hewe
English, today
hue
Built from
From Middle English hewe, from Old English hīew (“appearance, form, species, kind; apparition; hue, color; beauty; figure of speech”), from Proto-West Germanic hiwi, from Proto-Germanic hiwją (“hue, form, shape, appearance; mildew”), from Proto-Indo-European kew-, ḱew- (“skin, colour of the skin”) or ḱey- (“grey, dark shade”). Cognate with Swedish hy (“complexion, skin”), Norwegian hy (“fluff, mold, skin”), Icelandic hégómi (“vanity”), Gothic 𐌷𐌹𐍅𐌹 (“form, show, appearance”). Compare also Sanskrit छवि (“cuticle, skin, hide; beauty, splendour”); Irish ceo (“fog”), txb kwele (“black, dark grey”), Lithuanian šývas (“light grey”), Albanian thinjë (“grey”), Sanskrit श्याव (“brown”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA