Crystal violet or gentian violet, also known as methyl violet 10B or hexamethyl pararosaniline chloride, is a triarylmethane dye used as a histological stain and in Gram's method of classifying bacteria.
Crystal violet (CV) is a cationic tri-arylmethane dye, commercially used in ink and dyes. Organoclays based on Crystal violet are widely used in analytical studies.Crystal violet has antibacterial, antifungal, and anthelmintic properties and was formerly important as a topical antiseptic.