diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index 35b9731d49..51947a9e71 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -824,7 +824,8 @@ accepted are `normal`, `black`, `red`, `green`, `yellow`, `blue`,
 `magenta`, `cyan` and `white`; the attributes are `bold`, `dim`, `ul`,
 `blink` and `reverse`.  The first color given is the foreground; the
 second is the background.  The position of the attribute, if any,
-doesn't matter.
+doesn't matter. Attributes may be turned off specifically by prefixing
+them with `no` (e.g., `noreverse`, `noul`, etc).
 +
 Colors (foreground and background) may also be given as numbers between
 0 and 255; these use ANSI 256-color mode (but note that not all
diff --git a/color.c b/color.c
index ae68792923..e2a0a99164 100644
--- a/color.c
+++ b/color.c
@@ -124,9 +124,11 @@ static int parse_color(struct color *out, const char *name, int len)
 
 static int parse_attr(const char *name, int len)
 {
-	static const int attr_values[] = { 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 };
+	static const int attr_values[] = { 1, 2, 4, 5, 7,
+					   22, 22, 24, 25, 27 };
 	static const char * const attr_names[] = {
-		"bold", "dim", "ul", "blink", "reverse"
+		"bold", "dim", "ul", "blink", "reverse",
+		"nobold", "nodim", "noul", "noblink", "noreverse"
 	};
 	int i;
 	for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(attr_names); i++) {
@@ -238,7 +240,7 @@ int color_parse_mem(const char *value, int value_len, char *dst)
 			attr &= ~bit;
 			if (sep++)
 				*dst++ = ';';
-			*dst++ = '0' + i;
+			dst += sprintf(dst, "%d", i);
 		}
 		if (!color_empty(&fg)) {
 			if (sep++)
diff --git a/color.h b/color.h
index 4ec34b448f..7fe77fb55e 100644
--- a/color.h
+++ b/color.h
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ struct strbuf;
 /*
  * The maximum length of ANSI color sequence we would generate:
  * - leading ESC '['            2
- * - attr + ';'                 2 * 8 (e.g. "1;")
+ * - attr + ';'                 3 * 10 (e.g. "1;")
  * - fg color + ';'             17 (e.g. "38;2;255;255;255;")
  * - bg color + ';'             17 (e.g. "48;2;255;255;255;")
  * - terminating 'm' NUL        2
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ struct strbuf;
  * The above overcounts attr (we only use 5 not 8) and one semicolon
  * but it is close enough.
  */
-#define COLOR_MAXLEN 56
+#define COLOR_MAXLEN 70
 
 /*
  * IMPORTANT: Due to the way these color codes are emulated on Windows,
diff --git a/t/t4026-color.sh b/t/t4026-color.sh
index 65386db916..267c43bd95 100755
--- a/t/t4026-color.sh
+++ b/t/t4026-color.sh
@@ -45,10 +45,21 @@ test_expect_success 'fg bg attr...' '
 	color "blue bold dim ul blink reverse" "[1;2;4;5;7;34m"
 '
 
+# note that nobold and nodim are the same code (22)
+test_expect_success 'attr negation' '
+	color "nobold nodim noul noblink noreverse" "[22;24;25;27m"
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'long color specification' '
 	color "254 255 bold dim ul blink reverse" "[1;2;4;5;7;38;5;254;48;5;255m"
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'absurdly long color specification' '
+	color \
+	  "#ffffff #ffffff bold nobold dim nodim ul noul blink noblink reverse noreverse" \
+	  "[1;2;4;5;7;22;24;25;27;38;2;255;255;255;48;2;255;255;255m"
+'
+
 test_expect_success '256 colors' '
 	color "254 bold 255" "[1;38;5;254;48;5;255m"
 '