---
title: "Indigo"
description: "Indigo is a blue dye obtained from plants such as Indigofera and woad, and since the late nineteenth century also made synthetically."
type: Glossary
url: https://teazle.art/glossary/indigo
published: 2026-10-14
updated: 2026-10-14
author: "The Teazle editors"
---

# Indigo

*Indigo is a blue dye obtained from plants such as Indigofera and woad, and since the late nineteenth century also made synthetically.*

Indigo is one of the oldest and most widely used dyes. The colouring matter in the plant is insoluble, so dyers ferment or chemically reduce it into a soluble form; cloth dipped in the vat comes out yellow-green and turns blue as it meets the air. Deep shades are built up with repeated dips.

## Where does it come from?

Several plants contain it, including tropical Indigofera species and European [woad](https://teazle.art/glossary/woad.md). A synthetic version, introduced commercially in the 1890s, now dyes almost all [denim](https://teazle.art/glossary/denim.md).


## Sources

1. [Indigo (AAT 300013055)](http://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/300013055). Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus
2. [Indigo (Q422662)](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q422662). Wikidata

Canonical: https://teazle.art/glossary/indigo