It takes a great deal of nerve for a color to assume the name of a piece of clothing. Call it a fashionable takeover of the highest lexicographical order, but that’s exactly what khaki is all about. I must thank my always-inspirational friend Lisa Esperum for suggesting this week’s word.

As the American Heritage Dictionary defines it, khaki describes a “light olive brown to moderate or light-yellowish brown.” It’s also the name of a rough-and-ready (and typically cotton) cloth made from this same color or uniforms of this same shade.

It comes to us from the Urdu word “khāki,” meaning “dusty,” from the Persian word “khak,” meaning “dust,” and it was adapted by the British army in the mid-19th century for its field uniforms, at first informally in India, and then eventually throughout the British empire. As the Oxford English Dictionary elaborates, khaki was composed of “stout-twilled cotton,” or “khaki drill,” but also sometimes of wool, a variant known as “khaki bedford.”

Sir Henry “Harry” Burnett Lumsden (1821-1896) is credited as the inventor (or at least the popularizer) of military khaki. This plucky army officer began his eventful career early. Born on the East India Company ship Rose on the Bay of Bengal, he spent his early years in India, was educated in England and then returned at age 17 to his first job, as an ensign (essentially a junior lieutenant) in a colonial infantry unit.

As the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography relates, Lumsden quickly distinguished himself with a skill for languages and a hearty penchant for gutsy soldiering. So much so, in fact, that in 1846 he was tasked with creating a new unit that would serve in the Punjab, on the always-active northwest frontier where British India met Afghanistan in a wild-and-woolly menagerie of tribes, deserts and mountains.

Lumsden’s elite Corps of Guides “were chosen from the warlike frontier tribes who knew the terrain of the border hills — in his own words, men ‘accustomed to look after themselves, and not easily taken aback by any sudden emergency.’” Lumsden directed that his hand-picked men adopt the practical khaki, and their reputation soon preceded them in many an engagement.

As a particularly proactive peacekeeping force, the Corps of Guides under Lumsden developed a hard-earned reputation as a highly-trained, courageous force that more often than not saved the day. Lumsden was also noted for his personal, action-oriented diplomacy and administrative skills, and he was later promoted to full general, eventually retiring to Belhelvie Lodge, his family’s ancestral home in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

All that being said, a good early example of khaki as used in written English can be found in a July 11, 1883 article in the London Times, “Marksmen … in the case of some of the Indian team, in the light serviceable dust-coloured khakee” (the latter being a variation of our word).

Incidentally, “a khaki” can be a synonym for a soldier dressed in such a uniform or used in reference to just the pant (or trouser).

I do hope you found this somewhat-abridged story of khaki interesting, even if you don’t happen to wear a pair terribly often. If you have word ideas for next week, please send them to me, and, until next time, cheers!

Reach columnist Will Mari at features@dailyuw.com.