Impossible Color Names

The Naming System

The normal amount of colors the average trichromatic human can see on a standard digital screen is about 16 million unique colors. However, impossible color combinations introduce 8 million times more colors to our vision. The result is approximately 140 trillion uniquely identifyable color experiences which allow for an incredible amount of visual detail if implemented properly into our vision. All of these new colors need distinct names so that we can refer to and share them. Only when we can name a specific color we can communicate it to other people. 

In the following I have created a naming system for all impossible colors that are combinations of primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary basic colors. The naming system works by splitting every basic color name into two parts, a prefix and a suffix. These prefixes and suffixes can be combined to form the name for any impossible color. While this naming system is understandably unimaginative — I could easily give each new color an entirely new name — it allows for the easy comprehension and recognition of any impossible color's basic compound colors. That way you don't have to learn 576 entirely new color names. Because most of the chosen representative basic color names should already be familiar with you, you can construct and deconstruct any impossible color if you know its basic colors' prefixes and suffixes.

The Impossible Color Names Chart

As nobody has ever created such an elaborate naming system for impossible color combinations before — at least to my knowledge — this is the first and official naming system for impossible color combinations. The chart will eventually be updated to include quinary basic colors as well.

(De-) Construction

This naming sytem for impossible colors also entails impossible saturation and brightness combinations of colors. Colors such as Silboro Tartel Turmillion become possible. The impossible color names are (de-)constructed as such:

Sil-(ver) + Tar-(nished) + Tur-(quoise) → Every first/left part relates to the first/left-eye color.

(Gains)-boro + (Pas)-tel + (Ver)-million → Every second/right part relates to the second/right-eye color.

Each prefix and suffix is unique, so the (de-)construction of any impossible color name can't lead to identification errors.

There's more, But Also a Limit

When there are literally 8 million times more colors to name it becomes exponentially more difficult to name them all. This impossible color naming chart tries to incorporate the most used basic color names and differences to present an elaborate but not overwhelming method to accurately name the most common impossible color combinations. In everyday life people seldomly refer to colors more minute than quaternary colors, thus I've decided that that's a good limit for now.

Impossible Color Names in 'Color in Color'