Kory Stamper: True Color
July 6, 2026
How would you define the color “sea pink”? Imagine having to write color definitions for a prestigious dictionary? How would you helpfully and concisely define a color like puce? It was an even greater nightmare than you can imagine. Tonight’s guest on Inquiry is KORY STAMPER. She is a lexicographer who has written dictionaries for nearly thirty years at Merriam-Webster, Cambridge Dictionaries, and Dictionary.com. Her new book is TRUE COLOR: THE STRANGE AND SPECTACULAR QUEST TO DEFINE COLOR-FROM AZURE TO ZINC PINK.
