Cinereous means ashy grey in colour, either consisting of or resembling ashes, or a grey colour tinged with coppery brown. It is derived from the Latin , from (wood ashes).
The first recorded use of cinereous as a colour name in English was in 1661.Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 193; Color Sample of Cinereous: Page 93 Plate 35 Color Sample A3
Cinereous in nature Birds
The colour name cinereous is used especially in both the English and the scientific (as cinerea / cinereus) names of birds with ash grey plumage with or without a slight coppery brown tinge, including the cinereous antshrike (Thamnomanes caesius), cinereous becard (Pachyramphus rufus), cinereous bunting (Emberiza cineracea), cinereous conebill (Conirostrum cinereum), cinereous finch (Piezorhina cinerea), cinereous ground-tyrant (Muscisaxicola cinereus), cinereous harrier (Circus cinereus), cinereous mourner (Laniocera hypopyrra), cinereous-breasted spinetail (Synallaxis hypospodia), cinereous tinamou (Crypturellus cinereus), cinereous tyrant (Knipolegus striaticeps), grey heron (Ardea cinerea), and cinereous warbling-finch (Poospiza cinerea). However, the colours of these birds may be brighter to the birds themselves since birds are tetrachromats and can see colours in the ultraviolet range that are invisible to humans, who are trichromats.
See also Animal colouration List of colours
References
External links
The Free Dictionary