diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index bf82766a6a2..78f13f061e5 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -262,11 +262,19 @@ color::
        colors (at most two, one for foreground and one for background)
        and attributes (as many as you want), separated by spaces.
 +
-The basic colors accepted are `normal`, `black`, `red`, `green`, `yellow`,
-`blue`, `magenta`, `cyan` and `white`.  The first color given is the
-foreground; the second is the background.  All the basic colors except
-`normal` have a bright variant that can be specified by prefixing the
-color with `bright`, like `brightred`.
+The basic colors accepted are `normal`, `black`, `red`, `green`,
+`yellow`, `blue`, `magenta`, `cyan`, `white` and `default`.  The first
+color given is the foreground; the second is the background.  All the
+basic colors except `normal` and `default` have a bright variant that can
+be specified by prefixing the color with `bright`, like `brightred`.
++
+The color `normal` makes no change to the color. It is the same as an
+empty string, but can be used as the foreground color when specifying a
+background color alone (for example, "normal red").
++
+The color `default` explicitly resets the color to the terminal default,
+for example to specify a cleared background. Although it varies between
+terminals, this is usually not the same as setting to "white black".
 +
 Colors may also be given as numbers between 0 and 255; these use ANSI
 256-color mode (but note that not all terminals may support this).  If
diff --git a/color.c b/color.c
index 64f52a4f93a..a5fa9b79a7a 100644
--- a/color.c
+++ b/color.c
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ struct color {
 	enum {
 		COLOR_UNSPECIFIED = 0,
 		COLOR_NORMAL,
-		COLOR_ANSI, /* basic 0-7 ANSI colors */
+		COLOR_ANSI, /* basic 0-7 ANSI colors + "default" (value = 9) */
 		COLOR_256,
 		COLOR_RGB
 	} type;
@@ -83,6 +83,27 @@ static int parse_ansi_color(struct color *out, const char *name, int len)
 	int i;
 	int color_offset = COLOR_FOREGROUND_ANSI;
 
+	if (match_word(name, len, "default")) {
+		/*
+		 * Restores to the terminal's default color, which may not be
+		 * the same as explicitly setting "white" or "black".
+		 *
+		 * ECMA-48 - Control Functions \
+		 *  for Coded Character Sets, 5th edition (June 1991):
+		 * > 39 default display colour (implementation-defined)
+		 * > 49 default background colour (implementation-defined)
+		 *
+		 * Although not supported /everywhere/--according to terminfo,
+		 * some terminals define "op" (original pair) as a blunt
+		 * "set to white on black", or even "send full SGR reset"--
+		 * it's standard and well-supported enough that if a user
+		 * asks for it in their config this will do the right thing.
+		 */
+		out->type = COLOR_ANSI;
+		out->value = 9 + color_offset;
+		return 0;
+	}
+
 	if (strncasecmp(name, "bright", 6) == 0) {
 		color_offset = COLOR_FOREGROUND_BRIGHT_ANSI;
 		name += 6;
diff --git a/color.h b/color.h
index c20d324e7ca..27e817016bf 100644
--- a/color.h
+++ b/color.h
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ struct strbuf;
 #define GIT_COLOR_MAGENTA	"\033[35m"
 #define GIT_COLOR_CYAN		"\033[36m"
 #define GIT_COLOR_WHITE		"\033[37m"
+#define GIT_COLOR_DEFAULT	"\033[39m"
 #define GIT_COLOR_BOLD_BLACK	"\033[1;30m"
 #define GIT_COLOR_BOLD_RED	"\033[1;31m"
 #define GIT_COLOR_BOLD_GREEN	"\033[1;32m"
@@ -40,6 +41,7 @@ struct strbuf;
 #define GIT_COLOR_BOLD_MAGENTA	"\033[1;35m"
 #define GIT_COLOR_BOLD_CYAN	"\033[1;36m"
 #define GIT_COLOR_BOLD_WHITE	"\033[1;37m"
+#define GIT_COLOR_BOLD_DEFAULT	"\033[1;39m"
 #define GIT_COLOR_FAINT_BLACK	"\033[2;30m"
 #define GIT_COLOR_FAINT_RED	"\033[2;31m"
 #define GIT_COLOR_FAINT_GREEN	"\033[2;32m"
@@ -48,6 +50,7 @@ struct strbuf;
 #define GIT_COLOR_FAINT_MAGENTA	"\033[2;35m"
 #define GIT_COLOR_FAINT_CYAN	"\033[2;36m"
 #define GIT_COLOR_FAINT_WHITE	"\033[2;37m"
+#define GIT_COLOR_FAINT_DEFAULT	"\033[2;39m"
 #define GIT_COLOR_BG_BLACK	"\033[40m"
 #define GIT_COLOR_BG_RED	"\033[41m"
 #define GIT_COLOR_BG_GREEN	"\033[42m"
@@ -56,6 +59,7 @@ struct strbuf;
 #define GIT_COLOR_BG_MAGENTA	"\033[45m"
 #define GIT_COLOR_BG_CYAN	"\033[46m"
 #define GIT_COLOR_BG_WHITE	"\033[47m"
+#define GIT_COLOR_BG_DEFAULT	"\033[49m"
 #define GIT_COLOR_FAINT		"\033[2m"
 #define GIT_COLOR_FAINT_ITALIC	"\033[2;3m"
 #define GIT_COLOR_REVERSE	"\033[7m"
diff --git a/t/t4026-color.sh b/t/t4026-color.sh
index c0b642c1ab0..e34838ded95 100755
--- a/t/t4026-color.sh
+++ b/t/t4026-color.sh
@@ -94,6 +94,18 @@ test_expect_success '24-bit colors' '
 	color "#ff00ff black" "[38;2;255;0;255;40m"
 '
 
+test_expect_success '"default" foreground' '
+	color "default" "[39m"
+'
+
+test_expect_success '"normal default" to clear background' '
+	color "normal default" "[49m"
+'
+
+test_expect_success '"default" can be combined with attributes' '
+	color "default default no-reverse bold" "[1;27;39;49m"
+'
+
 test_expect_success '"normal" yields no color at all"' '
 	color "normal black" "[40m"
 '
