[Vocabulary] off-red

[sitifan]

In experimental studies, speakers of the language were able to learn to recognize the color red, and they did better with fire-engine red than off-red. (An Introduction to Language, Eighth Edition, page 27)
https://books.google.com.tw/books?i...page&q="fire-engine red than off-red"&f=false
What does the word "off-red" mean?

 

[tedmc]

Colours that are close to red such as scarlet, maroon, burgundy, vermillion, fuschia, etc.

 

[Rover_KE]

The above colours are shades of red.

I don't get it. I've only ever heard off-white, because there's a pure white.

How can anything be off- any other colour?

 

[jutfrank]

I guess it's referring either to those shades of red that are off the centre of the band of red in the colour spectrum, or to reds that are less pure in that they are mixed with other colours.

 

[Tarheel]

Colours that are close to red such as scarlet, maroon, burgundy, vermillion, fuschia, etc.

I would call those shades of red. (I probably wouldn't even recognize fuchsia.)