Sky blue

Sky blue is a color similar to a clear midday sky (blue) reflected from a metallic surface. The entry for “sky blue” in Murray’s New English Dictionary (1919) documents an early sighting of the term in the article on “silver” in Ephraim Chambers’ Cyclopaedia of 1728. However, many authors had used the term “sky blue” “to indicate a color in front of the Houses. For example, we find “sky blue” in A Collection of Voyages and Travels (London: Awnsham and John Churchill, 1704), vol. 2, p. 322, where John Nieuhoff describes certain flowers: “They are beautiful light blue and yellow in the center”. The meaning of this color was perhaps first used in a 1585 book by Nicolás de Nicolay, in which he stated that “the merchant’s turban must be the color of the sky”. The Sky blue web color is shown on the right.