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taupe (TOHP) - n., a dark brownish-grey color.
One sometimes slightly tinged with purple, yellow, or green. The color of moleskin, or the pelt of the common French mole, and indeed taupe in French does mean mole (from Latin talpa). The suggestion that it's actually from German Taube, dove (from the Proto-Germanic root *dūbǭ that also gave us dove) with a through-French transmutation swapping the /b/ for a /p/ seems to be fake.
---L.
One sometimes slightly tinged with purple, yellow, or green. The color of moleskin, or the pelt of the common French mole, and indeed taupe in French does mean mole (from Latin talpa). The suggestion that it's actually from German Taube, dove (from the Proto-Germanic root *dūbǭ that also gave us dove) with a through-French transmutation swapping the /b/ for a /p/ seems to be fake.
---L.
