structural color
Light-bending surface hue
Structural color is color produced not by pigments but by microscopic physical structures that interfere with light waves.
Butterfly wings, peacock feathers, and opals get their iridescence this way—tiny ridges or layers scatter specific wavelengths while canceling others.
Unlike pigment, structural color often shifts with viewing angle and doesn't fade over time.
- iridescenceColor shift from interference
- shimmerTremulous, wavering light
- peacockOrnate pheasant relative
- peacock featherIridescent tail plume with ocellus
- butterflyWinged insect from caterpillar
opal · prism · rainbow · scales · feathers · nacre · mother of pearl · interference · refraction · light waves · metallic · gleaming · beetle · jewel beetle · abalone · holographic · wavelength · sheen
structural colorpigment
Color-imparting material
pigmentation · dye · melanin · chlorophyll · tattoo ink
structure, structural, structurally, structures, structured, structuring, restructure, restructuring, infrastructure