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which one is correct or more natural: "the cake is purple and gold" or "the cake is purple and golden", and "a gold cake" or "a golden cake" still speaking of its colour? Thank you all.

zenith3
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  • I do think that if you're combining it with another color, then "gold" is preferred: "the cake is purple and gold," or "the Baltimore Ravens' team colors are purple, black, and gold." – Canadian Yankee May 02 '18 at 15:53
  • English speakers will understand from context that you're talking about the *color* not the *material*, especially since you've paired it with another color. If it's ambiguous, use the suffix *-colored* as in *the gold-colored spoon*. – Andrew May 02 '18 at 15:56

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'Golden' mainly refers to colour and appearance. 'Gold' can refer to either colour or material composition. So if you want to accentuate that you are referring to colour, use golden. If you want to accentuate material composition, use gold. For example, we would say golden hair, but gold coin.

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