Pink is a pale red color that was first recorded in the 17th century to describe the pale red flowers of pinks, flowering plants in the genus Dianthus. This color stands for beauty, grace and goodness. Pink itself is a combination of red and white. Other tints of pink may be combinations of rose and white, magenta and white, or orange and white.

Roseus is a Latin word meaning "rosy" or "pink." Lucretius used the word to describe the dawn in his epic poem On the Nature of Things (De Rerum Natura). The word is also used in the binomial names of several species, such as the Rosy Starling (Sturnus roseus) and Catharanthus roseus.

Pink in gender

• In Western culture, the practice of assigning pink to an individual gender began in the 1920s. From then until the 1940s, pink was considered appropriate for boys because it was the more masculine and decided color while blue was considered appropriate for girls because it was the more delicate and dainty color. Since the 1940s, the societal norm apparently inverted so that pink became appropriate for girls and blue appropriate for boys, a practice that has continued into the 21st century.
• Though the color pink has sometimes been associated with gender stereotypes, some feminists have sought to reclaim it. For example, the Swedish radical feminist party Feminist Initiative uses pink as its color.

• Pink is the color of the Breast Cancer Awareness ribbon. Pink was chosen partially because it is so strongly associated with femininity.

• It has been suggested that females prefer pink because of an evolutionary preference for reddish things like ripe fruits and healthy faces. This suggestion, however, has been criticized as unsubstantiated.

Pink in sexuality

• Whereas Jewish people were forced to wear a yellow star of David under Nazi rule, and Roma people were forced to wear a black triangle, men imprisoned on accusations of homosexuality or same-sex sexual activity were forced to wear a pink triangle. Nowadays, the pink triangle is often worn with pride.
• A Dutch newsgroup about homosexuality is called nl.roze (roze being the Dutch word for pink), while in Britain, Pink News is a leading gay newspaper and online news service. There is a magazine called Pink for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual (GLBT) community which has different editions for various metropolitan areas. In France Pink TV is a LGBT cable channel.
• In business, the pink pound or pink dollar refers to the spending power of the GBLT communities. Advertising agencies sometimes call the gay market the pink economy.
• In Japan the color Cherry Blossom Pink is associated with a woman's vagina, and therefore, in Japan, softcore pornographic films are called pink movies.
• In the bandana code of the gay leather subculture, wearing a pink bandana means that one is into the fetish of playing with dildos. Wearing a dark pink bandana means that one is into tit torture.