Page 193 - English Vocabulary in Use (Pre & Intermediate)

93 Shapes, colours and patterns

A Shapes

a square (n) a rectangle (also oblong) (n) a circle (n) a semi-circle - an oval (n)
square (adj) rectangular (adj) round (adj) oval (adj)
circular (adj)

a triangle (n) a pyramid a right angle a point (n) a Star
triangular (adj)
pointed (adj)
a square box, a round table, a pointed end, a rectangular field, an oval shape
Note: We can also form adjectives to describe shapes in this way:
The ball was egg-shaped; a heart-shaped wedding cake; a diamond-shaped bag.

B Colours
You will already know most of the common colours. Here are some that are less common:
Mix black and white to form grey. Mix red and blue to form purple.
Mix green and blue to form turquoise. Pink is a colour between red and white.
Beige is a very light brown with some yellow in it.

C Shades of colour (= degrees and variation of colour)
She bought a dark green skirt. shades of grey
He was wearing light blue jeans.
My new shirt is pale yellow.

dark grey light/pale grey

Note: With some colours, we use pale rather than light, e.g. pale yellow, pale pink.
D_sPatterns (also called ‘designs’)

striped
shirt

E Use of the suffix -ish

When we want to say that a shape is almost round or a colour nearly green, we can express
this idea by adding the suffix -ish: a roundish face; a greenish tie; a yellowish colour.

190 English Vocabulary in Use (pre-intermediate & intermediate)