Color Trivia Questions, From Rainbows to Royal Purple

Five rounds of 20, from the outer edge of a rainbow to the snails behind royal purple.

Question 1 of 100

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On Mars the daytime sky looks orange or reddish. What color does the sky around the setting Sun turn?

Pick an answer, then press Check answer. Then you see Correct or Not quite, with the reason. Keys: A to D pick, Enter checks.

Scored round: 20 questions, no time limit.

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Unofficial practice questions, not affiliated with any school, exam board or quiz show. Question bank last checked September 19, 2026.

How it works

Which color runs along the outer edge of a rainbow, and what is a black panther really? These 100 color trivia questions run in five rounds of 20. Tap a choice, then Check answer.

Pick a round, then a level

Set Topic to one of five rounds: Light and color science, Color in nature, Color words and sayings, Flags in words or Pigments and dyes. Show only narrows the run to Easy (51 questions) or Hard (49). In Flags in words the question is the flag itself, such as a white rectangle with a red circle at its center, so nobody needs to see the screen.

Host a table or play alone

Read the question and its four choices aloud, let teams write a letter, then tap one and press Check answer for the answer and the reason. The card keeps no team tally, so score on paper. Alone, Scored round asks 20 questions and holds the marking until the end; the ones you miss wait under Missed.

Tips
  • For a tougher game, read out the question and hide the choices. In Pigments and dyes half the answers are one word, like woad.
  • Mixed ages at the table? Set Show only to Easy for the first round, then switch to Hard once everyone has scored.
  • Read the reason out too. After the lobster question, the table learns that heat breaks down a protein that was hiding the orange pigment.

Questions and answers

How hard are these color trivia questions?

About half and half. Of the 100, 51 are tagged Easy, such as which three colors of light a screen mixes. The other 49 are Hard, such as which battle gave magenta its name. Every round holds at least nine easy ones.

Are these color trivia questions suitable for kids?

The Easy half works for older children: rainbows, pink river dolphins, why a cooked lobster turns orange. The Hard half asks for finer detail, such as which element makes the Hope Diamond blue, so keep it for teens and adults.

Can I print color trivia questions and answers?

Yes. Choose a Topic, then press Print question sheet for the next 20 questions and Print answer key for the answers with reasons. Five rounds make five printouts. The card needs a connection, so print ahead where the signal is poor.

Where do the answers come from?

Each answer was read on September 19, 2026 on the page linked under it: a Wikipedia article, an Etymonline entry or NASA Space Place. Brand colors and claims about what colors mean are left out, along with stories the sources disagree on.

All 100 questions with answers

Light and color science 20

  • A fainter second rainbow sometimes appears outside the first. How are its colors arranged? Answer: In the reverse order of the first. Source: Wikipedia: Rainbow
  • A rainbow made by moonlight is called a moonbow. What color does it usually look to the eye? Answer: White. Source: Wikipedia: Moonbow
  • During a total lunar eclipse the Moon turns reddish instead of going dark. Why? Answer: Earth's atmosphere bends reddened sunlight into the shadow. Source: Wikipedia: Lunar eclipse
  • For an object glowing with heat, which color signals the higher temperature? Answer: Blue. Source: Wikipedia: Color temperature
  • From the ground a rainbow is an arc. From where can it sometimes be seen as a full circle? Answer: From an airplane. Source: Wikipedia: Rainbow
  • In 1800 William Herschel discovered infrared radiation. Which instrument revealed it? Answer: A thermometer. Source: Wikipedia: Infrared
  • In an ordinary single rainbow, which color runs along the outer edge of the arc? Answer: Red. Source: Wikipedia: Rainbow
  • In CMYK printing, C, M and Y stand for cyan, magenta and yellow. What does K stand for? Answer: Key, the black plate. Source: Wikipedia: CMYK color model
  • Isaac Newton settled on seven main colors for the spectrum. He chose seven by analogy with what? Answer: The notes of a musical scale. Source: Wikipedia: Rainbow
  • Johann Wilhelm Ritter discovered ultraviolet in 1801. What did the invisible rays beyond violet darken? Answer: Paper soaked in silver chloride. Source: Wikipedia: Ultraviolet
  • Magenta is called an extra-spectral color. What does that mean? Answer: No single color of the visible spectrum has its hue. Source: Wikipedia: Magenta
  • On Mars the daytime sky looks orange or reddish. What color does the sky around the setting Sun turn? Answer: Blue-gray. Source: NASA Space Place: Why Is the Sky Blue?
  • The shifting colors on a soap bubble or an oil film on water come from which effect? Answer: Thin-film interference. Source: Wikipedia: Thin-film interference
  • Shine red light and green light onto the same spot in equal amounts. What color appears? Answer: Yellow. Source: Wikipedia: RGB color model
  • Web colors are written with six hexadecimal digits. How many colors can that specify? Answer: 16,777,216. Source: Wikipedia: Web colors
  • What is the dark band of sky between the two arcs of a double rainbow called? Answer: Alexander's band. Source: Wikipedia: Rainbow
  • What is the most common color of the aurora? Answer: Green. Source: Wikipedia: Aurora
  • Which firework color is notoriously difficult to produce? Answer: Blue. Source: Wikipedia: Pyrotechnic colorant
  • Which three colors of light does a screen mix to make all the others? Answer: Red, green and blue. Source: Wikipedia: RGB color model
  • Why does a deep body of pure water look blue? Answer: Water weakly absorbs red light. Source: Wikipedia: Color of water

Color in nature 20

  • A black panther is not a species of its own. What is it? Answer: A leopard or jaguar with a black coat. Source: Wikipedia: Black panther
  • A blue jay's feathers hold no blue pigment. Where does the blue come from? Answer: The inner structure of the feather. Source: Wikipedia: Blue jay
  • A red tide colors coastal water. What causes it? Answer: A bloom of tiny algae. Source: Wikipedia: Harmful algal bloom
  • Almost all white peafowl are not albinos. What is their condition called? Answer: Leucism. Source: Wikipedia: Peafowl
  • Amazon river dolphins are born dark gray. What color do adults turn? Answer: Pink. Source: Wikipedia: Amazon river dolphin
  • Carrots were not always orange. What color were carrot roots from West Asia, India and Europe in the 10th century? Answer: Purple. Source: Wikipedia: Carrot
  • Eucalyptus deglupta is known as the rainbow eucalyptus. Which part of the tree is multicolored? Answer: The bark. Source: Wikipedia: Eucalyptus deglupta
  • The gemstone alexandrite is known for a color trick. What does a fine stone do? Answer: Looks green in daylight and red in incandescent light. Source: Wikipedia: Chrysoberyl
  • Many hunters of the deep sea are red. Why does red hide them there? Answer: Red light does not reach the deep, so red works like black. Source: Wikipedia: Deep-sea fish
  • One species of hydrangea, Hydrangea macrophylla, can flower blue or pink. What decides the color? Answer: How acidic the soil is. Source: Wikipedia: Hydrangea macrophylla
  • Several ideas compete to explain a zebra's stripes. Which one does most evidence support? Answer: They put off biting flies. Source: Wikipedia: Zebra
  • Skinks of the genus Prasinohaema, found in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, have blood of what color? Answer: Green. Source: Wikipedia: Prasinohaema
  • Traces of which element make the Hope Diamond blue? Answer: Boron. Source: Wikipedia: Hope Diamond
  • Turacos are birds of sub-Saharan Africa. What is unusual about turacoverdin, the pigment in their feathers? Answer: It is the only true green pigment known in birds. Source: Wikipedia: Turaco
  • The viceroy butterfly wears the monarch's orange and black. It was long thought a harmless copy. What is now known? Answer: It is also distasteful to predators. Source: Wikipedia: Viceroy (butterfly)
  • What do bright blue feet tell a possible mate about a blue-footed booby? Answer: That the bird is healthy and well fed. Source: Wikipedia: Blue-footed booby
  • What gives the Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone its bright bands of color? Answer: Mats of heat-loving microbes. Source: Wikipedia: Grand Prismatic Spring
  • Where does the orange-pink color of wild salmon flesh come from? Answer: Pigments in the krill and shellfish they eat. Source: Wikipedia: Salmon
  • Which element gives a ruby its red color? Answer: Chromium. Source: Wikipedia: Ruby
  • Why does a lobster's shell turn from brown to orange when it is cooked? Answer: Heat breaks down a protein that masks the orange pigment. Source: Wikipedia: Lobster

Color words and sayings 20

  • A blue-chip stock takes its name from which game? Answer: Poker. Source: Etymonline: blue-chip
  • A red-letter day is a special one. Where were the red letters first written? Answer: On church calendars. Source: Etymonline: red-letter
  • Auburn now means reddish brown. What did it mean when it entered English in the early 15th century? Answer: Whitish or yellowish white. Source: Etymonline: auburn
  • Before pink was a color, what was a pink? Answer: A garden flower. Source: Etymonline: pink
  • Calling the second full moon in a calendar month a blue moon is a modern rule. When did it begin? Answer: 1946. Source: Wikipedia: Blue moon
  • Canary yellow comes from the bird, and the bird from the Canary Islands. What does the islands' Latin name literally mean? Answer: Island of dogs. Source: Etymonline: canary
  • The color fuchsia is named after a flowering shrub. Who is the shrub named after? Answer: A German botanist. Source: Etymonline: fuchsia
  • The color teal is named after what? Answer: A small duck. Source: Etymonline: teal
  • The dye and color magenta got its name in 1860. What was it named after? Answer: A battle in Italy. Source: Etymonline: magenta
  • In the word blackmail, what did mail originally mean? Answer: Rent or tribute. Source: Etymonline: blackmail
  • The name turquoise comes from an Old French phrase. What did the phrase mean? Answer: Turkish stone. Source: Etymonline: turquoise
  • Puce is a brownish purple. What does the word mean in French? Answer: Flea. Source: Etymonline: puce
  • Red-handed began as red-hand in the early 15th century. In which country's legal writing did it first appear? Answer: Scotland. Source: Etymonline: red-handed
  • Scarlet did not at first name a color. What was scarlet in the 13th century? Answer: A rich cloth. Source: Etymonline: scarlet
  • Taupe is the French word for which animal? Answer: The mole. Source: Etymonline: taupe
  • Vermilion goes back to the Latin word vermiculus. What does vermiculus mean? Answer: A little worm. Source: Etymonline: vermilion
  • Where does the phrase red tape come from? Answer: Red tape once used to tie up official documents. Source: Etymonline: red tape
  • Which dark red takes its name from the French word for chestnut? Answer: Maroon. Source: Etymonline: maroon
  • Which language traditionally treats light blue, goluboy, and dark blue, siniy, as two separate colors? Answer: Russian. Source: Wikipedia: Blue–green distinction in language
  • The word orange traces back through several languages to the Sanskrit naranga. What did naranga name? Answer: The orange tree. Source: Etymonline: orange

Flags in words 20

  • A large yellow disk, a little off-center toward the hoist, on a light blue field. Whose flag? Answer: Palau. Source: Wikipedia: Flag of Palau
  • A maroon flag with a broad white band at the hoist, its edge cut into nine points. Whose flag? Answer: Qatar. Source: Wikipedia: Flag of Qatar
  • A red circle on a dark green field, set slightly toward the hoist. Whose flag? Answer: Bangladesh. Source: Wikipedia: Flag of Bangladesh
  • A sky blue flag with a white emblem in the center: a world map framed by two olive branches. Whose flag? Answer: The United Nations. Source: Wikipedia: Flag of the United Nations
  • A white rectangle with a red circle at its center. Whose flag? Answer: Japan. Source: Wikipedia: Flag of Japan
  • A yellow Nordic cross on a light blue field. Whose flag? Answer: Sweden. Source: Wikipedia: Flag of Sweden; Flag of Finland
  • According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, its emblem was formed by reversing the colors of which country's flag? Answer: Switzerland. Source: Wikipedia: Emblems of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
  • From 1977 to 2011 one country flew a plain green flag with no design at all. Which country? Answer: Libya. Source: Wikipedia: Flag of Libya
  • Greece's flag has nine blue and white stripes. In the most popular reading, they stand for the syllables of which phrase? Answer: Freedom or Death. Source: Wikipedia: Flag of Greece
  • Green, yellow and red are known as Pan-African colors. Which country's flag did they come from? Answer: Ethiopia. Source: Wikipedia: Pan-African colours
  • In motor racing, which flag signals the end of a session? Answer: The checkered flag. Source: Wikipedia: Racing flags
  • Romania's blue, yellow and red flag is extremely similar to the flag of which African country? Answer: Chad. Source: Wikipedia: Flag of Chad
  • Three horizontal bands, light blue, white, light blue, with a yellow sun in the center. Whose flag? Answer: Argentina. Source: Wikipedia: Flag of Argentina
  • Three horizontal bands: red, white, red. Whose flag? Answer: Austria. Source: Wikipedia: Flag of Austria; Flag of Poland; Flag of Peru
  • Three horizontal stripes: black on top, then red, then gold. Whose flag? Answer: Germany. Source: Wikipedia: Flag of Germany; Flag of Belgium
  • Three vertical bands: blue at the hoist, then white, then red. Whose flag? Answer: France. Source: Wikipedia: Flag of France; Flag of Italy
  • Three vertical bands: green at the hoist, then white, then orange. Whose flag? Answer: Ireland. Source: Wikipedia: Flag of Ireland; Flag of Ivory Coast
  • Today's Dutch flag is red, white and blue. The older Prince's Flag had a different top stripe. What color was it? Answer: Orange. Source: Wikipedia: Prince's Flag
  • Two equal horizontal bands: blue over yellow. Whose flag? Answer: Ukraine. Source: Wikipedia: Flag of Ukraine
  • Which country's flag is nicknamed the Seskleur, Afrikaans for six color? Answer: South Africa. Source: Wikipedia: Flag of South Africa

Pigments and dyes 20

  • Alizarin was the first natural dye to be duplicated in the laboratory, in the late 1860s. Which plant's root had supplied it? Answer: Madder. Source: Wikipedia: Rose madder
  • Before imported indigo began to replace it in the 16th century, which plant of the mustard family gave Europe its blue dye? Answer: Woad. Source: Wikipedia: Isatis tinctoria
  • Born in the purple was a title for a child born to a reigning Byzantine emperor. The birth room in Constantinople was lined with which purple stone? Answer: Porphyry. Source: Wikipedia: Born in the purple
  • Carmine red dye comes from cochineal. What is cochineal? Answer: A scale insect that lives on cactus. Source: Wikipedia: Cochineal
  • The deep blue pigment ultramarine was ground from which stone? Answer: Lapis lazuli. Source: Wikipedia: Ultramarine
  • The deep yellow pigment gamboge takes its name from an old name for which country? Answer: Cambodia. Source: Wikipedia: Gamboge
  • Dragon's blood is a bright red coloring. What is it really? Answer: A plant resin. Source: Wikipedia: Dragon's blood
  • In 1856 William Henry Perkin, aged 18, discovered the dye mauveine by accident. What was he trying to make? Answer: Quinine. Source: Wikipedia: Mauveine; William Henry Perkin
  • Lamp black is one of the traditional black pigments. How was it made? Answer: By collecting soot from oil lamps. Source: Wikipedia: Carbon black
  • Maya blue combines indigo dye from the leaves of the anil plant with what? Answer: A natural clay. Source: Wikipedia: Maya blue
  • Prussian blue was probably first made around 1706. In which city? Answer: Berlin. Source: Wikipedia: Prussian blue
  • Red and yellow ochre colored paintings in Paleolithic caves. What gives ochre its color? Answer: Iron oxide. Source: Wikipedia: Ochre
  • The red pigment vermilion was made from powdered cinnabar. Cinnabar is an ore of which metal? Answer: Mercury. Source: Wikipedia: Vermilion; Cinnabar
  • Scheele's green, invented in 1775, was a vivid green pigment. Which poison did it contain? Answer: Arsenic. Source: Wikipedia: Scheele's green
  • Sepia, the brown ink, was first made from what? Answer: The ink sac of a cuttlefish. Source: Wikipedia: Sepia (color)
  • Tyrian purple was the costly dye of ancient rulers. What was it made from? Answer: Sea snails. Source: Wikipedia: Tyrian purple
  • Venetian ceruse was a white cosmetic. Which toxic metal was it made with? Answer: Lead. Source: Wikipedia: White lead
  • Which modern nation grew out of English logging camps that cut logwood for dye? Answer: Belize. Source: Wikipedia: Haematoxylum campechianum
  • Which pigment is considered to be the first synthetic pigment ever made? Answer: Egyptian blue. Source: Wikipedia: Egyptian blue
  • YInMn Blue was discovered in 2009 at Oregon State University. Where does its name come from? Answer: The symbols of the elements yttrium, indium and manganese. Source: Wikipedia: YInMn Blue
How this list was compiled

Written for this site; nothing was copied from another list. Questions and wrong choices are our own. Each explanation restates facts from the page named and linked beside it, in our own sentences; names, dates and short lists follow that page. Each answer was checked on 2026-09-19 against the page named and linked beside the question: the text of the English Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org), the Etymonline entry for the word (https://www.etymonline.com) or the NASA Space Place page (https://spaceplace.nasa.gov) was fetched that day, and the sentence that states the fact was read before the question was kept. Every extra claim in an explanation was checked the same way. The Britannica, Merriam-Webster, Smithsonian and NOAA SciJinks pages we also meant to use could not be fetched that day, so none of them is cited. Easy and Hard are our own estimate of difficulty. Left out on purpose: brand, team and school colors, what a color is said to mean or say about a person, records that change, and any story the sources tell in more than one way. Each question also carries the date its page was last read (checkedOn). Licence: own work