Mauve (/ˈmoʊv/ ( listen), mohv[3]) is a pale purple colour[4][5] named after the mallow flower (French: mauve). The first use of the word mauve as a colour was in 1796–98 according to the Oxford English Dictionary, but its use seems to have been rare before 1859. Another name for the colour is mallow,[6] with the first recorded use of mallow as a color name in English in 1611.[7]