color code

¹

noun

1. any system of marking or visual designation that uses specific colors for indicating or simplifying, as on a chart or map or in an industrial plant.

color-code

²

[ kuhl-er-kohd ]

verb (used with object)

, col·or-cod·ed, col·or-cod·ing.

1. to distinguish or classify with a color code.

Word History and Origins

Origin of color code¹

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

The aviation color code was also raised from orange to red, indicating that a significant emission of ash into the sky is likely.

From Vox

Each 15-by-10-by-7-inch bin is a different color—blue, green, pink, and khaki—which makes it easy to color code organize the pantry, playroom, bathroom, and garage.

From Popular-Science

So if you’re likely not infected, you get a green color code and you can actually go about your day to day life, like go buy food, go to a cafe, go to a bookstore, board the subway.

From MIT Technology Review

In Brazil people color code their underwear according to their needs.

From The Daily Beast

By this time each joint of the latter has been numbered and given its color code.

From Project Gutenberg

But not one of the colonists had ventured to try to break the color code and learn what lay locked in those bands.

From Project Gutenberg

The word signal, snap numbers, color code, and play name are part of the semiosis.

From Project Gutenberg

He ran over the color code in his mind and compared it with the memorized leads.

From Project Gutenberg