Khaki
Khaki, in British or European parlance, is a type of green tinged brown
fabric, or the
colour of such fabric. Traditionally pronounced
IPA: , it is today more often called in Britain and in the USA. The name comes from the
Persian word
khak (dirt) which came to English through the
Hindi/
Urdu loan word meaning earth-coloured or dust coloured. The original khaki fabric is a closely twilled cloth of
linen or
cotton.
Brigadier Sir
Harry Burnett Lumsden began the use of
Khaki for
British Army regiments serving under him in
India in
1848. All British troops in India adopted khaki in
1885 having previously used white as the tropical colour. The
Boers used khaki clothing as
camouflage in the
First Boer War; in the
Second Boer War the British did as well.
The
United States Army adopted khaki, where it means a greenish tan or sand colour, during the
Spanish American War . It has become
de rigueur for
military uniforms of
militaries the world over (e.g. the
United States Navy and the
United States Marine Corps), as well as the police forces of many American states and counties, and South Asian countries. It has also spread to
civilian clothing, where "khakis" since the
1950s has meant tan cotton twill trousers. Today, civilian khakis come in all ranges of colours, and the term seems to refer more to the particular design or cut of the trousers.
"Khaki" has also become a common slang term in the United States Navy that refers to
chief petty officers and
officers (who wear a khaki-coloured
uniform, also referred to as "khakis".)
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Khaki (color)*
Cargo pants*
What is khaki? - The story of the
catechu's use as a dye for khaki clothing.
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Google Answers: Is Khaki a Color?*
kamouflage.net > introduction: a very brief overview of the development of camouflage uniforms
