the.com/sable
The world's most luxurious way to describe the color black.
means A deep, glossy black — originally the name of a small dark-furred weasel-like animal whose pelt became the ultimate luxury fur, and later a word for the color itself, especially in heraldry.
from Traces back through Old French 'sable' to medieval Latin 'sabelum,' and further east to Slavic languages (compare Russian 'sobol'), where the word named the marten-like animal prized for its fur. As sable pelts became coveted luxury goods across medieval Europe, the word slid from naming the animal to naming its rich black-brown color — and in heraldry, 'sable' became the formal term for black on a coat of arms, which is why the word still carries a whiff of nobility and velvet darkness rather than plain old 'black.'
- origin
- Named after a Russian marten, not the ocean
- heraldry
- In coats of arms, sable literally means black
- irony
- Actual sable fur is dark brown, not black
- luxury tax
- One coat can cost more than a car