(Discover even more words in The Writer’s Body Lexicon.)

Picking the Perfect Adjective Saves Words

… and makes writing leap off the page. These lists contain more than 300 adjectives to describe skin color, tone, complexion, and texture. Some might be deemed cliché, but you can leverage them as springboards.

Let’s consider ivory, a hackneyed word (cliché) for modifying skin. What looks like ivory? Piano keys. Can you use piano keys for a direct description? How about: Julianne flounced into the parlor, her flawless skin shimmering as white as the keys on the grand piano in the center of the room.

Do you picture a fair-skinned, affluent woman who might have musical talent or at least the desire to appear as though she does? Although the piano keys don’t shimmer, her skin does. The comparison between skin and keys hints that the keys are shiny. Either Julianne keeps them polished, or she spends considerable time playing. If she doesn’t play, perhaps she strokes the keys and daydreams about a musician who jilted her.

Clichés, Clichés, Clichés …

Another cliché is baby-soft skin. Consider this sentence: Jordan’s tiny fingers stroked his mother’s breast, a breast with skin as soft as his own.

Do you envision a baby? The sentence doesn’t say Jordan is in his mother’s arms, but that’s probably what you see. Even though the word baby is never used, you sense the softness of the mother’s skin.

You can also benefit from the following lists of adjectives by consulting them in conjunction with your favorite thesauruses.

Consider blotchy.

Microsoft Word provides these suggestions: mottled, blemished, marked, spotty, spotted, dappled, discolored, freckled, reddened, and red.

Google brings up the following recommendations: mottled, dappled, blotched, spotty, spotted, smudged, marked, erratic, irregular, patchy, and splotchy.

A search at dictionary.reverso.net provides these alternatives: blemished, macular, patchy, reddened, scurvy, spotty, and uneven.

Thesaurus.com presents a different list: mottled and spotted. Moving down the page to the mottled heading brings up the following adjectives: blotchy, checkered, dappled, flecked, freckled, maculate, streaked, tabby, variegated, marbled, motley, and piebald. More suggestions appear under additional headings.

Imagine what you could do with tabby and piebald, words that normally describe cats and horses. What about other animals? Crocodiles, elephants, leopards, giraffes — they all have different textures and patterns of skin or spots, with personalities that could match those of your protagonists.

I have included a few words that refer to scent. Let your imagination run wild. A protagonist’s skin could smell like grease, rose petals, beer, garlic, baby shampoo, or licorice. Investigate the surroundings and occupations of your characters to add appropriate scents. Likewise with flavor. I didn’t include any taste words, but consider the possibilities, especially if you’re writing a romance novel.

Not Just Skin

Most of these words could be applied to specific body parts rather than skin. For example:

• raw knees
• veined hands
• blistered face
• cottage-cheese thighs
• patchy chest
• sunburnt toes
• reptilian elbows

Now without further ado, I present the lists.

Skin Color/Tone

A and B

alabaster, albino, almond, amber, anemic, apricot, ashen, beige, bisque, black, blanched, bloodless, blue-tinged, blushing, brick-colored, bronze, brown, burnt, butterscotch, buttery

C

café-au-lait, caramel, cedar, chalky, charcoal, chestnut, chocolate, cinnamon, coffee-colored, colorless, copper, coral, cream-colored, creamy

D to G

dark, dappled, dusky, ebony, espresso, fair, fawn, fiery, florid, flushed, flushing, freckled, ghostly, ginger, golden, granite-grey, grey, green

I to O

ivory, jaundiced, lily-white, liver-spotted, mahogany, mango, milk-white, milky, mottled, ochre, olive

P to R

painted, pale, pallid, pasty, peaches-and-cream, peach-colored, pearly, pink, porcelain, red, reddened, rose-brown, rosy, rouged, rubicund, ruddy, russet

S and T

sallow, sand-colored, sepia, shock-white, sienna, snowy, sooty, sorrel, spotted, sunny, sunburnt, swarthy, tan, tanned, tarnished, taupe, tawny, teak, terra cotta, toffee

U to Y

umber, vanilla, wan, washed-out, waxen, whitey, yellow

See also 1000+ Ways to Describe Colors

Skin Complexion/Texture

A and B

abraded, acned, baby-soft, blackhead-speckled, blemished, blistered, blotchy, bristly, bubble-wrapesque, bumpy, burnished

C

calloused, cellulite-dimpled, chapped, clean-shaven, clear, coarse, cottage-cheese, cratered, creased, crepe-textured, crinkled, crumpled

D to F

delicate, depilated, desiccated, diaphanous, downy, dry, dull, elastic, erupted, erythemic, fine-grained, flaky, flawed, frail, furry, fuzzy

G to K

gauzy, goose-bumped, goose-fleshed, goose-pimpled, granular, hairless, hairy, healthy, hirsute, hive-dotted, inflamed, keloid-marred, kitten-soft

L to P

leathery, lined, lumpy, marred, oozing, orange-peel, papery, paper-thin, parchment, patchy, petal-soft, pillowy, pimpled, pimply, pitted, pockmarked, potholed

R

rash-covered, rash-ridden, raw, reptilian, ridged, rough, rumpled, rutted

S

sandpapery, satiny, saurian, scabby, scabrous, scaled, scaly, scarred, scratched, sensitive, sheer, silky, sleek, slick, smooth, soft, speckled, splotchy, spotty, stippled, supple

T to W

taut, textured, thick, translucent, unblemished, unwrinkled, uneven, velvety, work-roughened, wrinkly

Other Words to Describe Skin

A to D

aged, aglow, aromatic, boyish, caked, chilled, chilly, clammy, clawed, clean, cool, damaged, damp, dewy, dimpled, dirty, doughy, drawn, droopy

E and F

etched, feverish, firm, flaccid, flapping, flappy, flawless, fleshy, fragranced, fragrant, fresh, frigid, frostbitten, frozen, furrowed

G to K

gangrenous, girlish, gleaming, glistening, glossy, glowing, gossamer, greasy, grimy, grubby, gnarled, hot, icy, knotty

L to O

lackluster, listless, loose, lustrous, lusterless, luminescent, makeup-caked, matte, mature, moist, mud-caked, musky, odorous, old

P to R

patterned, peeling, perfumed, pierced, pliable, puckered, puffy, pure, radiant

S

scented, sweet-smelling, sweet-scented, scrubbed, shimmering, shiny, slimy, slippery, smeared, sparkling, spongy, springy, sticky, streaked, stubbly, sweaty, swollen

T to V

tattooed, tight, tingling, toasty, touchable, transparent, veined, veinous

W to Y

warm, weathered, wet, windburnt, wind-worn, wholesome, whiskery, withered, wizened, worn, yielding, youthful