From Urdu 'khaki' (dusty), from Persian 'khak' (dust) — adopted by British soldiers in India for camouflage in 1848.
A dull yellowish-brown color; a strong cotton or wool fabric of this color, used especially for military uniforms.
From Urdu 'خاکی' (khākī, dusty, dust-colored), from Persian 'خاک' (khāk, dust, earth, soil). The word entered English through the British Indian Army. In 1848, during the Second Sikh War, Sir Harry Lumsden's Corps of Guides on the Northwest Frontier adopted dust-colored uniforms for camouflage, dyeing their white uniforms with local mud, tea, and mulberry juice. The word spread
The word 'khaki' literally means 'dusty' in Urdu and Persian. British soldiers on India's Northwest Frontier in 1848 dyed their conspicuous white uniforms with mud, tea, coffee, and mulberry juice to blend into the dusty landscape — and named the color after what it looked like: dust. The innovation was so successful that khaki became the standard color for British military uniforms worldwide by the Boer War (1899–1902), after the bright red coats that had defined the British Army for two centuries