krāsa

13th-century, borrowed from Old East Slavic краса (krasa, “beauty, splendor”) (compare Russian краса́ (krasá)), which comes from Proto-Indo-European *ker- (“to burn, to glow”) (whence also Latvian karsts). Initially used in the Eastern regions, this word only penetrated further into the language in the 18th century, at first with the meaning “healthy, pretty facial color.” At the beginning of the 19th century, under the influence of Russian краска (color, “paint”), it acquired the sense “(natural) color of an object.”. In the second half of the 19th century, the meaning of krāsa was broadened, in order to replace the Germanism pērve, perve (“paint”) (still attested in dialects).[1]

• IPA^(key): [krāːsa]

krāsa f (4th declension)

1. color (visible light of a certain wavelength)

   balta, melna, sarkana krāsa ― white, black, red color

   spilgta, spoža krāsa ― bright color

   auksta, silta krāsa ― cold, warm color

   krāsas piesātinātība ― color saturation

   krāsu gamma ― color range, set

   krāsu redze ― color vision

   krāsu aklums ― color blindness

   krāsu televīzija ― color television

2. color (visible feature of a surface or object caused by reflected light)

   auduma krāsa ― fabric color

   ziedu krāsa ― flower color

   āda krāsa ― skin color

   bez krāsas (= bāls) ― without color (= pale)

3. paint, ink (substance applied to an object or surface to give it a certain color)

   tipogrāfijas krāsa ― printing ink

   krāsu kārba ― color box

   eļļas krāsa ― oil paint, color

   emaljas krāsa ― enamel paint

   krāsu palete ― color palette

   akvareļa (= ūdens) krāsa ― watercolor paint

   uzlikt, uzklāt krāsu ― to apply paint

   jaukt, atšķaidīt krāsas ― to mix, dilute colors

   notīrīt veco krāsu ― to remove old paint

4. colors (a colored symbol representing a country, an organization, a sports team)

   aizstāvēt savas sportistu komanadas krāsas ― to defend the colors of one's sports team

   emblēma valsts krāsās ― an emblem in the national colors

• (dialectal, archaic) perve