Farven

Farven is the definite singular form of the Danish noun farve, meaning color or dye. It designates a particular hue that has already been mentioned or is clear from context. The indefinite form is farve, and the plural is farver; the definite plural is farverne. In Danish grammar, the definite form is created by adding a suffix to the noun or by using a determiner, so farven corresponds to “the color.”

Etymology and cognates: Farve derives from older Danish forms of color and has cognates in related Scandinavian languages, such as Norwegian bokmål fargen and Swedish färgen. These terms share a common semantic core relating to hue, pigment, or dye.

Usage: Farven is commonly used when referring to a specific color in conversation, design, or art. Examples include: “Denne farve passer godt til rummet” (This color/colour suits the room well) and “Hvilken farve er væggen malet i?” (Which color is the wall painted in?). The plural farver is used to speak about colors in general or multiple hues.

Context and nuance: In everyday Danish, farve and farven cover a broad range of meanings from the physical pigment in objects to the perceptual experience of color. In technical or design contexts, the term is often paired with adjectives and nouns to describe properties such as hue, saturation, and brightness, or used alongside terms for color models (for example RGB or CMYK), though those terms are typically used with borrowed technical vocabulary.

See also: farver, the Danish word for colors in general; related terms in Norwegian and Swedish cognate forms.