The aim of this paper was to find out whether there are any gender differences in colour usage in fictional novels or short stories written by acknowledged English-speaking writers. The colours in the material were counted by hand and divided into different groups. The aim of this investigation was firstly to find out whether there is a gender difference in the frequency use of colour terms, secondly if the colour naming differs, thirdly if there is a difference in the usage of colours in the female and male writers’ descriptions of female and male characters and finally whether the context in which the colours are used differs. The results indicate that there are gender differences. The female writers use colours more frequently and are more imaginative and expressive concerning colour naming than the male writers are. The differences between the female and male writers’ descriptions of female and male characters are not so clear. The main difference is that the hair colour of women is more often described than the hair colour of men. Concerning the inanimate objects the differences are more obvious. The results indicate that the female writers use colours frequently when describing clothes, textiles, interior decorations, outdoor environment, food, cosmetics and flowers while the male writers dominate colour descriptions of cars and traffic lights. However, in some areas the occurrences are few and it is difficult to allow any conclusions to be drawn. Nyckelord: colours, gender, language