What colour is khaki?

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

These two shots were taken this afternoon minutes apart when it was overcast and when the sun came out. Green or brown?

[Keith Webb]

I agree though... khaki is one of those colours which varies just with the light, let alone batches...
Having said that there is a lot of variation not just from the colour temperature of the light but also what your auto white balance in the camera tries to make of it.
It's also a colour which fades to the almost yellow which you find on 60-something year old trucks in yards and paddocks.

[cmperry4]

The same problem comes up in trying to figure out the correct colour for British aircraft in the First World War - with the colour of the dope ranging from brown to green to olive drab. No colour photos and surviving examples are faded and so on. One account I have says it was specced to be a kind of DTB, but shifted to green-ish depending on the application, fabric colour, weathering and so on.
Khaki means 'dusty' - originated in British India campaigning.

[Dennis Gelean (RIP)]

Khaki is from the urdal dialect in India
Pronouned kackee or as in the US Karkey, Translation is dirt colour
referred to br some as S### colour. Dusty is being nice.
Most Cdn. and brits ww1 uniforms were made in India. Some in ww2.
dennis gelean

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

The faded to almost yellow that Keith talks about is so true and can sometimes yield a nice original colour if you scrape the surface off. It's great to find as it tells you with certainty that you are looking at an original, un-mucked with surface.