Meaning

noun a primary subtractive color for light; a dark purple-red color; the dye for magenta was discovered in 1859, the year of the battle of Magenta

noun a battle in 1859 in which the French and Sardinian forces under Napoleon III defeated the Austrians under Francis Joseph I

adjective of deep purplish red

originBorrowed from French magenta, from Italian Magenta, in commemoration of the Franco-Italian victory at the Battle of Magenta in 1859. An aniline dye in this colour had been invented the same year by French chemist François-Emmanuel Verguin and was named in honour of the battle. The town's name derives from Latin Castra Maxentia (“the camp named Maxentia”), referring to the emperor Maxentius.…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0