Spell Fuchsia, Fushia, Fucshia, Fuschia, or Fuchia Color?

It’s time for an urgent new entry into my hard words to spell in English list. Despite being both an experienced English teacher and an artist, it has always been profoundly difficult it is for me to spell fuchsia color. Or is it written fushia, fucshia, fuschia, or fuchia?!

Let’s explore all the reasons why spelling fuchsia (that bright purplish-reddish-pink named for the flower) is so engagingly hard — plus a number of tricks to remember the correct way to spell it from here on out. As always, I have illustrated the lesson with my hand-drawn cartoons (like my mint color and viridian color articles).

Fushia???

Let’s start with one of the commonly misspelled words in the bunch: FUSHIA. Is this the correct spelling of the color or flowering plant? No!

Like the fake words “seperated,” or “firey,” the word “fushia” does not exist. It is a figment of the imagination and should be tossed in the trash bin, along with the other misspellings of the word. So how DO we spell the color correctly?

Why it’s Hard to Spell Fuchsia

The correct spelling of the bright purplish-pink color is: F-U-C-H-S-I-A — not fushia, fuchia, fucia, fuschia, fusia, or fucshia. (Those are fake words like incase or the ever-confounding “ninty.”) What makes the spelling so challenging to remember?

Well, the challenge comes from figuring out the order of the “C,” “H,” and “S.” Given how the color is pronounced, it would make the most sense for it to be spelled “fushia” — with an “sh” and no “c.” However, because the flower and color’s origin, it’s not spelled that way. Here’s why…

Origin of the Name Fuchsia

The color fuchsia is named for the flowering plant of the same name. Its etymology is that it was named for one of the “Fathers of Botany,” Leonhard Fuchs, who was born way back in 1501.

Now we can see where the plant and color’s name derives from: an “-ia” was just added to the end of this gentleman’s last name to create “fuchs-ia” — “fuchsia.” (This is similar to why February is not spelled “Febuary” — it’s named after an ancient holiday called Februa.)

Ok, so we now know the origin… but how can we remember the letter order? Let’s create a trick like we did for how to spell definitely!

Remembering How to Spell Fuchsia

Here’s my trick to finally start to remember the spelling of the word fuchsia. First, the “Fu-” at the start and the “ia” at the end are pretty straightforward — so what we need to remember is the “chs” order of letters in the middle. (This is similar to how we learned to spell listen correctly.)

Behold, therefore, the mnemonic device to help: “Candy Heart Sweetness!” To recall those middle letters, simply visualize these adorable fuchsia candy hearts being — aww — sweet and adorable! (Yes, I may have had sweets on the mind after creating a candy drawing tutorial recently…)

Magenta vs. Fuchsia vs. Hot Pink

While we’re on the topic of the color fuchsia, this begs the question: What’s the difference between magenta and fuchsia? Well, the the former is more reddish (it’s what red and purple make), while the latter is more purplish.

However, what’s super confusing is that the Hex Code for fuchsia is often designated as the same as magenta in the RGB web color system: #FF00FF. Despite this, in the magenta vs. fuchsia battle, the latter is usually a cooler pink, as explained in the article, “Is Pink a Warm Color?”

Meanwhile, in the hot pink vs. fuchsia pink color question, the former is lighter and pinker, with a Hex Code of #FF69B4. (See more in “What Colors Make Pink?”) To further complicate things, the flowers called fuchsia come in all shades of purplish-pink and purplish-red. Oh my.

Spell Fuchsia, not Fushia!

I hope this lesson on how to spell fuchsia color (or the flowering plant) has been useful! Sorry, but the spelling “fushia” just doesn’t exist — like “greatful.” Sending you candy heart sweetness in bright purplish-pink for your colorful future spelling journeys.

Want more about colors? Check out my thoughts and illustrations on azure color, and the surprisingly large number of answers to what colors make purple.

For more spelling lessons, check out “Guard vs. Gaurd.”