✅ Gold is used to describe things that are metallic yellow in color (a gold leather jacket).

✅ Gilt describes things that are gold in color (gilt pens).

✅ While both words describe the same color, gold is a more common term, and gilt is more unusual.

✅ Gilt suggests that something has been gilded, or highlighted in gold or gold leaf, and so it often suggests a color that is more like applied gold leaf than the metal itself (gilt crockery).

✅ Silver describes things that are similar in color to or suggest the white metal of the same name (silver hair).

✅ Argent describes things that are pale silver in color or that have a silvery-white color (an argent cape).

✅ Silver is a more general term, whereas argent refers to a specific shade.

✅ Argent also can refer to the metal silver itself.

✅ Red describes something that is of the color of a ruby or the primary color at one end of the visible spectrum (red shoes; red leaves).

✅ Cardinal describes something that is a particularly deep and rich shade of red, like that of the male bird by the same name (a cardinal jacket; a cardinal scarf).

✅ Red can describe a lot of different shades and tones, whereas cardinal is pretty specific.