Kulay

Kulay is the Filipino term for color, the attribute of objects and light that can be perceived by the human eye. It encompasses hue, saturation, and brightness, and is used in everyday speech, art, design, science, and culture to describe how things appear.

The word kulay is native to Filipino languages and is widely used throughout the Philippines. It denotes color as a property of light and material, and is combined with specific hue names, e.g., kulay pula (red), kulay berde (green).

Color perception arises from photoreceptor cells in the eye responding to different wavelengths. In everyday usage, Filipinos describe color in terms of hues and tones. In art and printing, traditional primaries are red, blue, and yellow, while modern color systems also employ cyan, magenta, and yellow.

Colors play a role in Filipino culture and symbolism. In national symbolism, blue is associated with peace and justice, red with courage, white with equality and purity, and the yellow sun with liberty. These colors appear on the national flag, which features a blue field, a red field, a white triangle, and a yellow sun and stars.

In craft and commerce, kulay refers to pigments, dyes, and finishes used on textiles, paintings, and products. Natural dyes once predominated in local crafts, though synthetic pigments are common today. Descriptive use of kulay also conveys mood or atmosphere in literature and media.