Indian yellow

noun

1. Also called purree, snowshoe. an orange-yellow color.

2. Painting.

   1. Also called purree. a yellow pigment formerly derived from the urine of cows fed on mango leaves.

   2. a pigment derived from coal tar, characterized chiefly by its yellow color and permanence.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Indian yellow¹

First recorded in 1865–70

Example Sentences

It’s not sweet like a Japanese curry and yet not as complex as a true Indian yellow curry, but I’ve since modified it to add extra zing from the original version.

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Scientists at the Rochester Institute of Technology and the Museum of Modern Art in New York determined the sky was painted with ultramarine and cobalt blue, while the moon was painted with Indian yellow together with zinc yellow.

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Lost forever, as well, is Indian yellow, a transparent fluorescent glaze made from the urine of cows in rural India that had been fed exclusively on mango leaves.

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But I do know that you can order a synthetic version of Indian Yellow from the line launched by Bob Ross, the friendly TV painting tutor, for $7.29 a tube.

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The amateur artist Roger Dewhurst recorded using it in 1786, and, by the early nineteenth century, Indian Yellow had become a crucial component of the Romantic palette.

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