diff --git a/src/patch-sources.cjs b/src/patch-sources.cjs
index 72c482f..489b5fe 100644
--- a/src/patch-sources.cjs
+++ b/src/patch-sources.cjs
@@ -71,6 +71,18 @@ function bodyCitesTicket(body, ticketId) {
 	return re.test(body);
 }
 
+/**
+ * What happened to one pull request, from a `search/issues` item: open, merged
+ * or closed-unmerged.
+ *
+ * @param {Object} item
+ * @return {'open'|'merged'|'closed'}
+ */
+function prState(item) {
+	if (item.pull_request && item.pull_request.merged_at) return 'merged';
+	return item.state === 'closed' ? 'closed' : 'open';
+}
+
 /**
  * Reduces a GitHub `search/issues` response to the PRs that cite the ticket.
  * Returns newest-first — for a moving target like a PR the freshest is the one
@@ -78,7 +90,7 @@ function bodyCitesTicket(body, ticketId) {
  *
  * @param {Object}        searchJson
  * @param {number|string} ticketId
- * @return {Array<{number: number, title: string, state: string, updatedAt: string, url: string}>}
+ * @return {Array<{number: number, title: string, state: 'open'|'merged'|'closed', updatedAt: string, url: string}>}
  */
 function parseLinkedPrs(searchJson, ticketId) {
 	const items = searchJson && Array.isArray(searchJson.items) ? searchJson.items : [];
@@ -94,7 +106,12 @@ function parseLinkedPrs(searchJson, ticketId) {
 		prs.push({
 			number: item.number,
 			title: typeof item.title === 'string' ? item.title : '',
-			state: item.state === 'closed' ? 'closed' : 'open',
+			// Merged is a third state, not a flavour of closed: `state` only ever
+			// says open or closed, and the merge shows in `pull_request.merged_at`
+			// — which this same search response already carries, so keeping the
+			// distinction costs no second request against the shared
+			// unauthenticated quota this file is careful with.
+			state: prState(item),
 			updatedAt: item.updated_at || item.created_at || '',
 			url: item.html_url || `https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/pull/${item.number}`
 		});
diff --git a/src/renderer/index.jsx b/src/renderer/index.jsx
index 08fe5be..bce936b 100644
--- a/src/renderer/index.jsx
+++ b/src/renderer/index.jsx
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ import { trunkAgeInfo, planUpdateSteps, updateStepStatuses, SKIP_INSTALL_MESSAGE
 import { pickLatest } from '../latest-patch.cjs';
 import { beginSetup, adoptSetupPath, discardSetup, rowPathAfterStatus } from './pending-setup.cjs';
 import { parsePrRef } from '../patch-sources.cjs';
+import { prStateBadge } from './pr-state.cjs';
 import { ticketUrl, attachUrl } from './trac-ticket.cjs';
 import { ticketBranchRows, ticketListCard } from './ticket-branch-list.cjs';
 import { describeSwitchProgress } from '../switch-progress.cjs';
@@ -2437,11 +2438,22 @@ function SiteRow({ sitePath, initialized, createdAt, label, onInitialized, onSit
   const patchAttachments = (tracAttachments?.items || []).filter((a) => a.applyable);
   const tracAttachmentsRead = tracAttachments
     && (tracAttachments.status === 'ok' || tracAttachments.status === 'no-attachments');
+  // One pill shape, two uses: the "Latest" marker on a patch row and a linked
+  // pull request's state. Only the words and the colours differ.
+  const pillStyle = { display: 'inline-flex', alignItems: 'center', flex: '0 0 auto', padding: '1px 7px', borderRadius: 999, fontSize: 10, fontWeight: 600, textTransform: 'uppercase', letterSpacing: '0.04em' };
   const latestPill = (isLatest) => (isLatest ? (
-    <span style={{ display: 'inline-flex', alignItems: 'center', flex: '0 0 auto', padding: '1px 7px', borderRadius: 999, fontSize: 10, fontWeight: 600, textTransform: 'uppercase', letterSpacing: '0.04em', background: '#e7f1ff', color: '#0b5d95', marginLeft: 8 }}>
+    <span style={{ ...pillStyle, background: '#e7f1ff', color: '#0b5d95', marginLeft: 8 }}>
       Latest
     </span>
   ) : null);
+  const prStatePill = (state) => {
+    const badge = prStateBadge(state);
+    return (
+      <span style={{ ...pillStyle, background: badge.background, color: badge.color }}>
+        {badge.label}
+      </span>
+    );
+  };
 
   const finishApply = (message) => {
     markTerminalRunning(false);
@@ -3850,8 +3862,9 @@ function SiteRow({ sitePath, initialized, createdAt, label, onInitialized, onSit
                           </span>
                           {latestPill(latestPatch?.kind === 'pr' && latestPatch.key === pr.number)}
                         </div>
-                        <div style={{ fontSize: 11, color: '#6c6f72' }}>
-                          {pr.state === 'closed' ? 'closed' : 'open'}{pr.updatedAt ? ` · updated ${new Date(pr.updatedAt).toLocaleDateString()}` : ''}
+                        <div style={{ display: 'flex', alignItems: 'center', gap: 6, marginTop: 2, fontSize: 11, color: '#6c6f72' }}>
+                          {prStatePill(pr.state)}
+                          {pr.updatedAt ? <span>updated {new Date(pr.updatedAt).toLocaleDateString()}</span> : null}
                         </div>
                       </div>
                       <Button
diff --git a/src/renderer/pr-state.cjs b/src/renderer/pr-state.cjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9d595c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/renderer/pr-state.cjs
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+// The colours a linked pull request's state is shown in (#227).
+//
+// The state used to render as grey text the same weight as the date beside it,
+// separated by a middle dot, so the one word that says what happened to the
+// work read as part of the timestamp. Colour makes the outcome legible at a
+// glance — GitHub's own three, so the pill matches what the contributor sees
+// after clicking through to the pull request itself.
+//
+// Two rules the colours are chosen under:
+//
+// - The colour accompanies the word, never replaces it. A bare dot tells
+//   someone who cannot separate red from green less than the plain text did.
+// - Red means "something failed" everywhere else in this window — a half-done
+//   update, an error banner. A closed pull request is not a failure, so the
+//   closed pill deliberately uses GitHub's red (#ffebe9/#82071e) rather than
+//   this app's error pair (#fcf0f1 on a #d63638 border), and wears the same
+//   borderless pill shape as the "Latest" marker instead of the bordered,
+//   alert-shaped box the errors use.
+'use strict';
+
+// GitHub's light-theme state colours: the subtle background and the text
+// foreground of each state's own label.
+const PR_STATE_BADGES = {
+	open: { label: 'open', background: '#dafbe1', color: '#116329' },
+	merged: { label: 'merged', background: '#f5e8ff', color: '#6639ba' },
+	closed: { label: 'closed', background: '#ffebe9', color: '#82071e' }
+};
+
+/**
+ * The label and colours for one pull request's state.
+ *
+ * An unrecognised state reads as open, which is what the row has always done —
+ * a list cached by an older build carries only `open` and `closed`, and
+ * anything that is not closed has always been shown as open rather than
+ * dropped or left blank.
+ *
+ * @param {string} state
+ * @return {{label: string, background: string, color: string}}
+ */
+function prStateBadge(state) {
+	const key = typeof state === 'string' ? state.toLowerCase() : '';
+	return PR_STATE_BADGES[key] || PR_STATE_BADGES.open;
+}
+
+module.exports = { PR_STATE_BADGES, prStateBadge };
diff --git a/test/patch-sources.test.cjs b/test/patch-sources.test.cjs
index 927963c..47b4675 100644
--- a/test/patch-sources.test.cjs
+++ b/test/patch-sources.test.cjs
@@ -59,6 +59,31 @@ test('parseLinkedPrs: a closed PR is marked closed, not dropped (issue #11)', ()
 	assert.strictEqual(prs[0].state, 'closed');
 });
 
+// The three states the row colours (#227). GitHub's `state` says only open or
+// closed, so a merged PR arrives as closed and the merge is visible solely in
+// `pull_request.merged_at` — collapsing it loses which of two very different
+// outcomes the work reached.
+test('parseLinkedPrs: a merged PR is merged, not closed (issue #227)', () => {
+	const prs = parseLinkedPrs({
+		items: [item(7, { state: 'closed', pull_request: { url: 'x', merged_at: '2026-08-02T00:00:00Z' } })]
+	}, 62281);
+	assert.strictEqual(prs[0].state, 'merged');
+});
+
+test('parseLinkedPrs: closed with nothing merged stays closed (issue #227)', () => {
+	const prs = parseLinkedPrs({
+		items: [item(7, { state: 'closed', pull_request: { url: 'x', merged_at: null } })]
+	}, 62281);
+	assert.strictEqual(prs[0].state, 'closed');
+});
+
+test('parseLinkedPrs: an open PR stays open (issue #227)', () => {
+	const prs = parseLinkedPrs({
+		items: [item(7, { state: 'open', pull_request: { url: 'x', merged_at: null } })]
+	}, 62281);
+	assert.strictEqual(prs[0].state, 'open');
+});
+
 test('parseLinkedPrs: an empty or malformed response yields an empty list, not a throw (issue #11)', () => {
 	assert.deepStrictEqual(parseLinkedPrs({ items: [] }, 62281), []);
 	assert.deepStrictEqual(parseLinkedPrs({}, 62281), []);
diff --git a/test/pr-state.test.cjs b/test/pr-state.test.cjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..688661b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/pr-state.test.cjs
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+'use strict';
+
+// Colouring a linked pull request by its state (#227). No test renders the DOM
+// here, so what is testable is the mapping the row reads its colours from, and
+// that the row still reads it rather than restating the old grey text.
+
+const test = require('node:test');
+const assert = require('node:assert');
+const fs = require('node:fs');
+const path = require('node:path');
+const { PR_STATE_BADGES, prStateBadge } = require('../src/renderer/pr-state.cjs');
+
+const INDEX_JSX = path.join(__dirname, '..', 'src', 'renderer', 'index.jsx');
+
+// The accessibility rule the design is built on: colour accompanies the word,
+// it never replaces it. A pill with a colour and no label tells a contributor
+// who cannot separate red from green less than the plain text it replaced.
+test('every state keeps its word, not only its colour (issue #227)', () => {
+	for (const [state, badge] of Object.entries(PR_STATE_BADGES)) {
+		assert.strictEqual(badge.label, state, `${state} must be labelled with its own word`);
+	}
+});
+
+test('the three states are told apart by colour, all three of them (issue #227)', () => {
+	const backgrounds = Object.values(PR_STATE_BADGES).map((b) => b.background);
+	const foregrounds = Object.values(PR_STATE_BADGES).map((b) => b.color);
+	assert.strictEqual(new Set(backgrounds).size, 3, 'two states share a background, so they read as the same outcome');
+	assert.strictEqual(new Set(foregrounds).size, 3, 'two states share a text colour');
+});
+
+// Red means "something failed" everywhere else in this window. A closed pull
+// request is not a failure, so the closed pill must not be dressed as one: it
+// wears GitHub's red, not the error pair the alert boxes are painted with.
+test('the closed pill is not the error styling used elsewhere (issue #227)', () => {
+	const closed = prStateBadge('closed');
+	const source = fs.readFileSync(INDEX_JSX, 'utf8');
+	assert.ok(source.includes('#fcf0f1'), 'the error banner background moved; this test no longer compares against the real one');
+	assert.notStrictEqual(closed.background, '#fcf0f1');
+	assert.notStrictEqual(closed.color, '#d63638');
+});
+
+test('an unknown or missing state reads as open, the way the row has always behaved (issue #227)', () => {
+	assert.deepStrictEqual(prStateBadge('draft'), PR_STATE_BADGES.open);
+	assert.deepStrictEqual(prStateBadge(''), PR_STATE_BADGES.open);
+	assert.deepStrictEqual(prStateBadge(undefined), PR_STATE_BADGES.open);
+	assert.deepStrictEqual(prStateBadge(null), PR_STATE_BADGES.open);
+	// GitHub answers in lower case, but a cached list should not lose its colour
+	// over capitalisation either.
+	assert.deepStrictEqual(prStateBadge('MERGED'), PR_STATE_BADGES.merged);
+});
+
+test('the row renders the state through the pill, not as grey text (issue #227)', () => {
+	const source = fs.readFileSync(INDEX_JSX, 'utf8');
+
+	// The words come from this module, so the row cannot say one thing while the
+	// tested mapping says another.
+	assert.ok(
+		!/pr\.state === 'closed' \? 'closed' : 'open'/.test(source),
+		'index.jsx still collapses the state to its own open/closed text instead of using prStateBadge'
+	);
+
+	// One call site: the single pull-request row. Counted as a call rather than
+	// as the bare name so a comment naming the helper is not a red suite.
+	assert.strictEqual(
+		source.split('prStatePill(').length - 1,
+		1,
+		'expected exactly one prStatePill( call: the linked pull request row'
+	);
+});