Tongue color chart: what each color can mean

A healthy tongue is pink with a thin, clear-to-white coating. Here is what white, yellow, black, brown, green, orange, red and other colors usually point to, which ones clear up with cleaning, and which need a dentist or doctor.

• Why is my tongue black?A black tongue is almost always harmless and has one of three causes: bismuth medicine such as Pepto-Bismol, black hairy tongue (overgrown papillae that...
• Why does Pepto-Bismol turn your tongue black?Pepto-Bismol turns the tongue black because its active ingredient, bismuth subsalicylate, reacts with sulfur compounds in your mouth to form bismuth...
• What color should a healthy tongue be?A normal, healthy tongue color is pink, anywhere from light to dark pink, with a slightly rough surface from the papillae. A thin, see-through whitish film...
• What causes a brown tongue?A brown tongue is usually a brown coating on the tongue: dead cells, food debris and bacteria trapped in the papillae and stained by coffee, tea or tobacco....
• What does a pale tongue mean?A pale tongue, one that looks whitish-pink or washed out rather than coated, most often points to anemia, a low red blood cell count. The MSD Manual says a...
• Why is my tongue gray?A gray tongue is most often a gray-white coating of dead cells, debris and bacteria that builds up when you are sick, dehydrated, breathing through your...
• Why is my tongue green?A green tongue is usually caused by a bacterial coating on the tongue surface, the same buildup that turns a tongue white or yellow, picking up a green tint...
• Why is my tongue purple?A purple tongue is most often a harmless stain from dark foods or dyes, or prominent purple veins on the underside that are common with age. A purple or...
• Why is my tongue bright red?A bright red tongue usually means the surface is inflamed (glossitis) or the papillae have flattened, letting the red tissue underneath show. Common causes...
• Why is my tongue orange?An orange tongue is usually caused by something on the surface: pigment from foods high in beta-carotene or orange dyes, or a coating of bacteria and debris...
• Why is my tongue white and yellow?A tongue that is white with yellow patches, or yellowish toward the back, is usually a thick coating of dead cells, debris and bacteria that has been there...
• Why is my tongue blue?In humans a blue tongue has two very different explanations. If it follows blue candy, a slushy or a sports drink, it is a harmless dye stain that fades...