AbstractFor simple graphs G and H, let f(G,H) denote the least integer N such that every coloring of the edges of KN contains either a monochromatic copy of G or a rainbow copy of H. Here we investigate f(G,H) when H = Pk. We show that even if the number of colors is unrestricted when defining f(G,H), the function f(G,Pk), for k = 4 and 5, equals the (k − 2)‐ coloring diagonal Ramsey number of G. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory