palette

Where it comes from

Palette came from French palette and Old French palete, a small shovel or blade. It was a diminutive of pale, shovel, ultimately from Latin pala, spade or shoulder blade; the painter's flat mixing board resembled a small blade.

How the meaning developed

The board holding an artist's paints came to stand for the colors themselves. Palette then broadened from a range of colors to a selected range of sounds, flavors, techniques, or expressive resources.

In use

“Palette” or “palate”?
One is about colors. One can be about taste.
Which fits: The chef has a sensitive ______?

“Palate” can mean your sense of taste.
“Palette” can mean an artist’s range of colors.
Picture a chef tasting soup and a painter choosing colors: palate for taste, palette for colors.