pal·ette / ˈpalit/ • n. a thin board or slab on which an artist lays and mixes colors. ∎  the range of colors used by a particular artist or in a particular picture: I choose a palette of natural, earthy colors. ∎  fig. the range or variety of tonal or instrumental color in a musical piece: he commands the sort of tonal palette that this music needs. ∎  (in computer graphics) the range of colors or shapes available to the user.ORIGIN: late 18th cent.: from French, diminutive of pale ‘shovel,’ from Latin pala ‘spade.’

palette The choice of colors or shades available to a computer program. The size of the palette may vary from two (as in monochrome with no intervening graduations) to many millions. The colors in the palette are normally chosen from a much larger number, such as a choice of 256 chosen from 4096; the numbers are usually powers of 2.

palette XVII. — F.; see PALLET2.