Blush blankets. Vibrant fuchsia apparel. Pink roses. Dusty rose carpets. Let us count the ways we love pink.
Pink is more than just a gorgeous hue. It’s a symbol of love, beauty youthfulness and more.
“Softer shades of pink are perceived to be more delicate than red, evoking feelings of youthful sweetness, while the brighter, shocking pink gives high-energy vibes that can encompass feelings of empowerment and challenge the notion of the status-quo,” Emily Kantz, a Sherwin-Williams color marketing manager in Cleveland, Ohio, tells TODAY.com.
As Rebekah Compton, PhD, associate professor of art and architectural history at the College of Charleston, elaborates, pink is a color most often associated with women, often with younger women and girls. Historically, per Compton, the color rose is given to the planet Venus and roses are one of the primary attributes of the goddess Aphrodite or Venus in ancient Greek and Roman mythology.
“Venus is the goddess of fertility, love and beauty. The ancient ties between pink and Venus may relate to the modern-day use of the color for breast cancer awareness,” she adds.
Read on to get the full scoop on this pretty color.
What does the color pink mean?
Femininity
Over time, the color pink came to be more closely associated with femininity in western cultures — but that wasn't always the case.
“Historically, pink was considered both masculine and feminine and was considered a status symbol amongst aristocrats in Europe,” says Kantz.
That might be changing. According to Kantz, since the early 2000s we have seen pink take on a more gender-neutral approach, seen on everything from fashion and footwear to paint colors and home accessories.
Love
No surprise here, but pink often stands for love in everything from literature to advertisements to pop culture.
“Due to pink’s mix of passionate red and white’s connotation of purity, pink is also connected with love and tenderness,” says Kantz, who is personally swooning for Sherwin-Williams’ recent debuts of 2025 Colormix® Forecast: Capsules’ Dragon Fruit SW 6855 and Cheery SW 6584 hues to exude that lovey-dovey feeling.
Expanding on that sentiment, Compton shares that many of the associations of pink with love derive from European literature, which prized a rosy-hued complexion in young women, seeing it as an important indicator of health and fertility.
“The poetic comparisons in love poetry often made between a maiden and roses, particularly pink roses, also increased the connotations between pink and love,” she says.
Compton says one myth may be responsible for the enduring association between pink roses and love. Having been struck by an arrow of love by her son Cupid, Venus fell in love with Adonis. Then, racing to reach her lover after he had been gored by a wild boar, Venus stepped on the thorns of a white rose, tearing her foot and staining the white petals a pink or red hue.
“The imagery signifies the wound or prick of love,” Compton says. We’ll never look at a rose the same way.
Beauty
According to Compton, pink is often associated with beauty, in part because of cosmetics and cosmeceuticals.
In Sandro Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” painting, Venus is accompanied by falling roses, which were said to have been born on the day of the goddess’s nativity, offers Compton.
“In terms of medieval and early modern cosmetics, many recipes used red or rose-colored materials to add vibrancy to the lips or cheeks. Brazilwood was one such material,” she continues. “Shavings from the wood, when soaked in rose water and alum, produce a bright but soft pink.”
Rose oil is closely linked to the realm of beauty and health. “Rose oil and rose water were used in cosmetics. In addition to their fragrance, rose oil and water were considered anti-inflammatory and used medicinally to open passages, including the birth passage!” says Compton.
Optimism
Pink hues have also been associated with providing a dose of optimism, says Kantz, who notes that’s why we say that someone is seeing the world through rose-colored glasses to indicate a hopeful and positive outlook.
Sensuality
Remember that Venus painting we talked about? “Roses were also associated with sensual aspects of Venus and employed, for example, in perfumery to offer a sweet scent to the body,” notes Compton.
In poetry, the color and softness of the rose petal was often compared to the skin of the beloved, says Compton, and roses could also be a metaphor for the female genitalia and the “picking or taking” of the rose.
It’s worth noting that “the more sensual aspects of pink are often tied to a deep pink, rather than a light one,” says Compton, but to this day pinks of all shades remain a popular representation of sensuality.
If your favorite color is pink, here’s what it says about your personality
The future is looking bright, pink enthusiasts. “If your favorite color is pink, you might have a more youthful, confident or optimistic personality,” says Kantz.
Compton singles out the choice of pink as one’s favorite color as potentially representing a playful, young personality. “It may also equal a sweet and innocent sensibility,” she adds.
