Indigo facts for kids

Indigo is a beautiful color that sits right between blue and violet. Think of it as a deep, rich blue with a hint of purple. It's the sixth color you see in a rainbow! The color called electric indigo is the closest we can show on a computer to the true indigo you see in a rainbow.

A famous scientist named Isaac Newton was the one who first named indigo as a specific color in the spectrum. He divided the light spectrum into the seven colors of the rainbow.

The name "indigo" originally comes from the indigo plant. This plant is used to make a special dye that gives things an indigo color. This dye is famous for coloring denim cloth, which is what your blue jeans are made from! So, your "blue jeans" are actually "indigo jeans." The indigo dye color is usually darker than the bright indigo you see in the rainbow.

The indigo plant first came from the country of India. The ancient Greeks called the dye indikon, and the Romans later used the word indicum. This word then changed over time and became "indigo" in English.

Indigo dye from India

Here are some things that are naturally indigo colored:

• Some types of grapes
• The night sky in the middle of the evening
• Blueberries
• Some eggplants

What is Indigo?

Indigo is a unique color that's often confused with blue or violet. It's a mix of both, giving it a very deep and rich look. It's one of the main colors in the visible light spectrum, which is the range of colors humans can see.

The Indigo Plant

The indigo plant is very important because it's where the original indigo dye comes from. For thousands of years, people have used this plant to create the beautiful blue-purple color for clothes and other items. The dye is made by processing the leaves of the plant.

Indigo in Everyday Life

You might not realize it, but indigo is all around us! Besides blue jeans, it's used in many fabrics and art supplies. It's also a popular color in fashion and home decor because of its calming and deep qualities.

Images for kids

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  Extract of natural indigo applied to paper

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  Indigo is one of the colors on Newton's color wheel.

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  Newton's observation of prismatic colors: Comparing this to a color image of the visible light spectrum shows that "blue" corresponds to cyan, while "indigo" corresponds to blue.

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  Indigo bunting

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  An upturned Lactarius indigo mushroom

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  Eastern indigo snake

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  Indigo is created in potholes carved in pumice "tufgrond" in Karoland, Sumatra

See also

In Spanish: Añil para niños