farveløs

Farveløs is a Norwegian adjective meaning colorless. In ordinary usage and in scientific contexts, it describes a material or substance that lacks color in the visible spectrum. The standard Norwegian term is fargeløs; farveløs occurs in some dialects or older texts.

Colorlessness occurs when a substance absorbs little or none of visible light (roughly 400–700 nm). A colorless material may be transparent or translucent, but it does not impart a hue. Pure water, dry air, and many gases such as nitrogen and oxygen are colorless. Pure solvents and solutions can also be colorless if they do not contain chromophores that absorb visible light.

Colorless is not the same as odorless. Farveløs describes appearance, while odorless describes smell. Some colorless liquids have noticeable odors; others are odorless.

In science, colorlessness relates to the optical properties of materials, particularly their absorption spectra and transmittance. In practical use, farveløs is a descriptive term used in chemistry, physics, and materials science to indicate lack of color. See also color, transparency, and absorption.