Hello! Our new word of the day is “púrpura”.  The chief meaning of the word is the color ‘purple’. In context, as in describing the color of something, the word is an adjective. It may also be used to characterize the color of clothing worn by Catholic prelates, such as cardinals, who ‘wear the purple’.

“Púrpura” is also used as a noun, to describe any of a group of colors with a hue between that of violet and red, or cloth of a color between violet and red, formerly worn as a symbol of royalty or high office such as an Emperor or someone of high rank who are ‘born to the purple’.

“Púrpura” is derived from the Latin. The word is spelled p – u – r – p – u – r – a. The accent is on the first ‘u’ in the first syllable. In Italian, the word for purple is “pórpora” which is spelled similarly, and even sounds similar, but substitutes the ‘u’ with the ‘o’.

The following are some idiomatic phrases in typical use speaking Spanish:

• born to the purple - nácido én el seno de úna família reinánte (as in born to a wealthy, royal or powerful family)
• Purple Heart - condecoración a lós héridos de güerra
• purple prose - trózo de estílo grandilocuénte

So, to recap, the word for today was “púrpura”, which is most often used to mean the color ‘purple’, though it has other contextual meanings as both a noun and an adjective.

Well, tune in tomorrow when our new Spanish word of the day will be “grís”.