palette

P3A1L1E1T1T1E1
UK/ˈpælɪt/US/ˈpælət/US, nonstandard/pəˈlɛt/

noun

A thin board on which a painter lays and mixes colours.

“Use your mouse to select the colour you want to use from the circular colour palette.”

Less commonScrabble 9

Meanings

nounpalette (plural palettes)

plural palettes

  1. paintingA thin board on which a painter lays and mixes colours.
  2. A set of colours available to be used (or mixed).

    Use your mouse to select the colour you want to use from the circular colour palette.

  3. The range of colors in a given work or item or body of work.

    The unified colour palette of reds, blues, and yellows used throughout the signage matches that of the institution’s logo and letterhead.

    2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 5
  4. The range of tones or tone colors in a given musical composition or performance.
  5. A set of makeup including a variety of colors, often packaged together in a tray.

    She removed an eyeshadow palette from her bag.

  6. computingA visual selection of colours, tools, commands, etc.

    It would be extremely beneficial to have the right subassemblies with the parameters already set available on your tool palette.

    2011, James Wedding, Dana Probert, Mastering AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009, page 394
  7. historicalA plate of armour covering the points of junction at the bend of the shoulders and elbows.
  8. A plate against which a person presses their chest to give force to a hand-operated drill.
  9. figurativelyuncommonAny set or group of limited choices, options, or tasks from all ones that are currently available.

    For the San Francisco project, he whittled down the palette to a handful of key surfaces, chief among them French limestone, hard oak, and Danish brick—long, slender, stunning.

    2026 May 28, Sam Cochran, “Feeling Zen”, in Architectural Digest, volume 83, number 4, page 100

Synonyms & antonyms

nounthe range of colour characteristic of a particular artist or painting or school of art

Similar

nounboard that provides a flat surface on which artists mix paints and the range of colors used

Similar
Broader

nounone of the rounded armor plates at the armpits of a suit of armor

Similar
Broader
Also see

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Frenchpalette
  2. Englishpalette

Borrowed from French palette. Doublet of pallet.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian палитра, палитра
  • палитра (palitra)board
  • палитра (palitra)range of colors
Chinese Mandarin 調色板 /调色板, 調色盤 /调色盘
  • 調色板 /调色板 (tiáosèbǎn)board
  • 調色盤 /调色盘 (tiáosèpán)range of colors
  • 顏色板 /颜色板range of colors
Czech paleta, paleta
  • paletaboard
  • paletarange of colors
  • barevná paletarange of colors
Danish palet
  • paletboard
Dutch palet
  • paletboard
Esperanto paletro
  • paletroboard
Finnish paletti, väripaletti
  • palettiboard
  • väripalettirange of colors
French palette, palette
  • paletteboard
  • paletterange of colors
German Farbpalette, Palette
  • Farbpaletteboard
  • Paletteboard
Greek παλέτα
  • παλέτα (paléta)board
Hebrew פתכה
  • פתכה (ptekhá)board
Hungarian paletta, paletta
  • palettaboard
  • palettarange of colors
  • színskálarange of colors
Italian tavolozza
  • tavolozzaboard
Japanese パレット
  • パレット (paretto)board
Korean 팔레트
  • 팔레트 (palleteu)board
Māori papatā, paewhakaranu
  • papatāboard
  • paewhakaranuboard
Norwegian Bokmål palett
  • palettboard
Polish paleta, paleta
  • paletaboard
  • paletarange of colors
Portuguese paleta, paleta
  • paletaboard
  • paletarange of colors
Russian пали́тра, пали́тра
  • пали́тра (palítra)board
  • пали́тра (palítra)range of colors
Spanish paleta, gama de colores
  • paletaboard
  • gama de coloresrange of colors
  • paletarange of colors
Swedish palett, palett
  • palettboard
  • palettrange of colors
  • spektrumrange of colors
  • färgskalarange of colors
Tagalog paleta
  • paletaboard
Turkish palet
  • paletboard
Ukrainian палітра, палітра
  • палітра (palitra)board
  • палітра (palitra)range of colors

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with palette

All rhymes →

Sounds the same

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

palette. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/palette

MLA

“palette.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/palette. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “palette,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/palette.

Source: palette on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.