Hex triplet #80461B CMYK (c, m, y, k) (0, 45, 79, 50) Source ISCC-NBS | sRGB (r, g, b) (128, 70, 27) HSV (h, s, v) (26°, 79%, 50%) | |
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Russet is a dark brown color with a reddish-orange tinge. As a tertiary color, russet is an equal mix of orange and purple pigments.
The first recorded use of russet as a color name in English was in 1562.
The source of this color is the The ISCC-NBS Method of Designating Colors and a Dictionary of Color Names (1955) used by stamp collectors to identify the colors of stamps.
The name of the color derives from russet, a coarse cloth made of wool and dyed with woad and madder to give it a subdued grey or reddish-brown shade. By the statute of 1363, poor English people were required to wear russet.
Russet, a color of autumn, is often associated with sorrow or grave seriousness. Anticipating a lifetime of regret, Shakespeare's character Biron says in Love's Labour's Lost, Act V, Scene 1: "Henceforth my wooing mind shall be express'd / In russet yeas and honest kersey noes."
The color is mentioned in a famous quote taken from a letter Oliver Cromwell wrote to Sir William Spring in September 1643: "I had rather have a plain, russet-coated captain that knows what he fights for, and loves what he knows, [than that which you call a gentleman and is nothing else]".