<P> While the word "pink" was first used as a noun to refer to a color in the 17th century, the verb "pink" continues to be reflected today as the name of hand - held scissors that cut a zig - zagged line to prevent fraying that are referred to as pinking shears . </P> <P> The color pink has been described in literature since ancient times . In the Odyssey, written in approximately 800 BCE, Homer wrote "Then, when the child of morning, rosy - fingered dawn appeared ..." Roman poets also described the color . Roseus is the Latin word meaning "rosy" or "pink ." Lucretius used the word to describe the dawn in his epic poem On the Nature of Things (De rerum natura). </P> <P> Pink was not a common color in the fashion of the Middle Ages; nobles usually preferred brighter reds, such as crimson . However, it did appear in women's fashion, and in religious art . In the 13th and 14th century, in works by Cimabue and Duccio, the Christ child was sometimes portrayed dressed in pink, the color associated with the body of Christ . </P> <P> In the high Renaissance painting the Madonna of the Pinks by Raphael, the Christ child is presenting a pink flower to the Virgin Mary . The pink was a symbol of marriage, showing a spiritual marriage between the mother and child . </P>

When did pink stop being a boy's colour