A dye is a material used to impart color to a substrate such as fabric or hair. Natural dyes have been used for this purpose for thousands of years. Egyptian clothing dating from 3000 b.c. was dyed with indigo, yellow, red, and green colorants. These...

Any of a class of intensely coloured complex organic compounds used to colour textiles, leather, paper, and other materials. Dyes known to the ancients came from plants such as indigo and madder (&see; madder family) or from the shells of mollusks;...

Any ink consisting simply of a dye dissolved in water together with the necessary preservatives. Various dyes are used in commercial ink manufacture today; the aniline dyes were the first of these, and some writers still refer to inks of this class as...

Soluble substances that add color to textiles. Dyes are classified into groups that have similar chemical characteristics (e.g., aniline, acid, and azo). They are incorporated into the fiber by chemical reaction, absorption, or...

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A dye can generally be described as a colored substance that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is being applied. The dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution, and may require a mordant to improve the fastness of the dye on the fiber....