Is there a better word than "colorizable"?

In part of the software my company develops, the user is presented with a list of black-and-white images. The user can select one of these images and then can select a color for it, changing it from black and white to the color they selected.

We are currently calling these “Colorizable Images”, as opposed to the alternative list of “Existing Color” images. But I am not sure that colorizable is a real word and am concerned people may not understand.

Is there a better term for something for which one can change the color of? We considered colorable but the definition seemed completely wrong.

An example might help. The user will see:

a black and white image

And when they choose to colorize that blue, they get:

a blue and white image


Given that colorize is a verb that I've seen used in graphics editing software to apply color to greyscale images, and -able is a general English suffix meaning that something is capable of being done, I'd say that colorizable sounds like a perfectly good word to use.


Why not simply use "customizable colour" or "custom coloured" images?

Do you need a single word?


"Colorizable" sounds awkwardly long. I would personally go for the simpler, "Colorable", or "Ready-to-color".

Depending on the context though you might be able to stretch out and use something like "Customizable" or call the images "Templates".


What about coining a phrase such as hue-shift images? If you need to have the capable part emphasized, you could say hue-shiftable, but I like the simpler form.

If you are wed to the word color you could use color-shift or color-shiftable.