pastel

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
pastel/ˈpastl/

▶noun

• 1 a crayon made of powdered pigments bound with gum or resin.

  ■ a work of art created using pastels.

• 2 a soft and delicate shade of a colour.

▶adjective of or denoting such a shade: pastel blue curtains.

– derivatives
pastellist (also pastelist) noun.

– origin C17: via Fr. from Ital. pastello, dimin. of pasta ‘paste’.