Wheatish complexion is a skin colour that is lighter than a dark skin tone yet a few shades darker than a light skin tone or fair skin color.

In India, people who are neither fair nor dark prefer to call their complexion as "wheatish".

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The popularity of this phrase has more to do with the perceived preference for a skin colour that's not dark and also as way to make sure men and women remain a desirable prospect in arranged marriage.

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Matchmaking websites as well as newspaper ads for arranged marriages have contributed to the widespread use of this phrase.

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The preference for fair skin in India, and hence the preference to be associated with wheatish complexion instead of being categorised as dark, can be possibly traced to the influx of European ideals of beauty along with the East India Company in India.

In the book “The Customs of the Kings of India” by Ronald Latham, which is an account of the observations made by Marco Polo, validates this theory ^[3].

*“For I assure you that the darkest man is here the most highly esteemed and considered better than others who are not so dark.

Let me a* dd that in very truth these people portray and depict their gods and their idols black and their devils white as snow.”