To provide an ink which, when used in an ink jet recording method, does not cause clogging at the head tip of or in the ink channel of an ink jet recording apparatus, does not cause a trouble of stopping the delivery of ink drops from a recording head, hardly vaporizes ink components during long- time storage or during the pause of recording, comprises chemically stable constituents, and is excellent in recording properties, delivery stability, and delivery responsiveness or excellent in continuous recording properties.

This ink is prepared by incorporating 2,4-diethyl-1,5-pentanediol into an ink for ink jet recording containing a colorant and a liquid medium for dissolving or dispersing the colorant.