Compared with other rollers its colours are rather dull and its voice harsh and grating.

The purple roller was formally described in 1800 by the French zoologist François Marie Daudin under the binomial name Coracias naevia.

[2] The specific epithet is from Latin naevius meaning "spotted" or "marked".

[7] Its preferred habitat is dry thornveld where it spends long periods perched at the top of thorn trees or poles, watching for food items such as insects, spiders, scorpions and small lizards on the ground.

It is territorial, and during the breeding season will drive off other rollers, small hawks and crows.