- any of various pale to moderate pinkish-purple or bluish-purple colours
- (as adjective): a mauve flower
- Also called: Perkin's mauve, mauveine /ˈməʊviːn; -vɪn/ a reddish-purple aniline dye
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
mauve
(mōv),USA pronunciation n.
adj.
- a pale bluish purple.
- Textilesa purple dye obtained from aniline, discovered in 1856: the first of the coal-tar dyes.
adj.
- of the color of mauve:a mauve dress.
- Latin malva mallow
- French: literally, mallow
- 1855–60
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
mauve /məʊv/ n
'mauve' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
buddleia
- hepatica
- lavender
- lousewort
- mint
- pennyroyal
- Perkin's mauve
- sea lavender
- viola
- violet
- wild pansy
- blue phlox
- mauve decade