sphinx, restructuredtext: set color for a single word

If you want to do this without being tied to html, try applying a different style than normal body text to your word.

In this example adapted from the rst2pdf manual, I apply the existing rubric style which is red in the backend that I am using:

Before red.

.. role:: rubric

I like color :rubric:`rubric`.

After red.

The actual look of the word will depend on how the style you choose is defined in the stylesheet that you use when generating your document. If you want blue text, make a blue text style and derive it from the normal text style. The stylsheet is backend-specific and you may be using the default. To print the default for rst2pdf.py, do this (from the rst2pdf manual):

rst2pdf --print-stylesheet

Continuing the example for a rst2pdf stylesheet, add this to your stylesheet to have a blue text style:

bluetext:
  parent: bodytext
  textColor: blue

In the document you can reference this style to get a blue word. Note this bit is generic, and should make blue text if you define a blue style in your html or whatever backend's stylesheet.

Before blue.

.. role:: bluetext

I like color :bluetext:`blue`.

After blue.

The generated pdf has the coloured words:

Sphinx already supports colors with the s5defs.txt standard definition file intended for inclusion (but is missing the CSS file):

1. Create/append this text to the value of rst_epilog sphinx configuration, in your docs/conf.py file:

    rst_prolog = """
    .. include:: <s5defs.txt>
   
    """
   

2. Follow Sphinx's instructions to add a css with the colors (e.g. adopt the hack.css from @Næreen's answer):

• Place your css file into e.g. _static/css/s4defs-roles.css;

• append it's path into shtml_css_files sphinx configuration:

      html_css_files = ['css/s4defs-roles.css']
  

You may then use:

Some :red:`colored text` at last!

TIP: Read this SO if you also want the styling to appear in Latex output.

Just a quick note because I landed here looking for something similar for html.

This works on Sphinx v2.0.1 for me. This uses the concept reported by @adam-matan but doesn't cause any formatting issues (i.e. the paragraph problem).

reference: reStructuredText Directives

.. role:: raw-html(raw)
   :format: html

:raw-html:`<font color="blue">Blue word,</font>` And a word without color