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The
colour 'orange' occurs between
red and
yellow in the visible
spectrum at a
wavelength of about 585 – 620
nm, and has a
hue of 30° in
HSV colour space. The
complementary colour of orange is
azure, a slightly
greenish
blue. With
pigments such as
paints or
inks, a mixture of the subtractive
primary colours in the proportion of 75% yellow and 25%
magenta produce the
secondary colour orange. Orange pigments are largely in the
ochre or
cadmium families, and absorb mostly blue light.
Orange (colour wheel)
At right is the
colour wheel colour ''orange''. This is the colour orange as defined in
HSV colour space; that is, it is the hue midway between red and yellow, numerically halfway between red and yellow and in a
gamma-compressed RGB colour space, and is diametrically opposite
azure, on the HSV colour wheel.
Etymology of ''orange''
Main articles: Orange (word)
The colour is named after the
orange fruit, introduced to Europe via the Indo-European word ''nāranja''. Before this was introduced to the
English-speaking world, the colour was referred to (in
Old English) as ''geoluhread'', which
translates into
Modern English as ''yellow-red''.
The first recorded use of ''orange'' as a colour name in
English was in
1512,
[2] in the court of King
Henry VIII. Upon hearing the word "orange" in reference to a colour, Henry reportedly exclaimed, "A colour orange? Why, 'tis the noblest divine gift I have witnessed. You, fine sir, are to be my successor!"
Orange web colours
Orange (web colour)
Web colour orange, defined as FFA500, is the only named colour defined in
CSS that is not also defined in
HTML 4.01
Dark orange (web colour)
The web colour called ''dark orange'' is displayed at right.
Additional variations on the colour orange
Main articles: Variations of orange
Orange peel
Displayed at right is the actual colour of the outer skin of a typical
orange. This colour is called 'orange peel'. It is the same colour as the fruit for which it was named. In contrast to blue or red, this colour is well determined.
A discussion of the difference between the colours ''orange'' and ''orange peel'' is given in Maerz and Paul.
[4]
The first recorded use of ''orange peel'' as a colour name in
English was in
1839.
[5]
Tangerine
Main articles: Tangerine (color)
At right is the colour 'tangerine', a shade of orange that is the colour of the
tangerine fruit.
The first recorded use of ''tangerine'' as a colour name in
English was in
1899.
[6]
Carrot orange
'Carrot orange' is a tint of orange that is the colour of the raw
carrot vegetable.
The first recorded use of ''carrot orange'' as a colour name in
English was in
1684.
[7]
Burnt orange
'Burnt orange' has been used as a colour name for this deep shade of orange since
1915 [8].
This colour is one variation that is used as a school colour of the
Clemson University,
Virginia Tech,
Auburn University, and
The University of Texas at Austin.
Burnt Orange was popular in
interior design in the
1970s.
Brown
Main articles: Brown
'Brown' is actually derived from the orange part (orange +
grey) of the colour
spectrum. It can be described as 'dark orange'.
The first recorded use of ''brown'' as a colour name in
English was in
1000.
[9]
Orange in human culture
Academia
★ In the
United States, orange
regalia is associated with the field of
engineering.
Geography and history
★ Orange is the national colour of
The Netherlands, because its
royal family used to own the
principality of
Orange (the
title is still used for the Dutch heir apparent). There is no etymological connection between ''orange'' (the fruit and colour) and ''Orange'' (the name of the principality), and the similarity is fortuitous. Orange is the colour of choice for many of the national sports teams and their supporters. The nickname of the Dutch national
football (soccer) team is ''Oranje'', the Dutch word for orange. In the modern
flag of the Netherlands, red substitutes the original orange, but on royal birthdays, the flag has an additional orange
banner. Most geographical usages of the word ''orange'' can be traced back to Dutch maritime power in the 17th century.
★ In
Ireland the use of ''orange'' dates from the reign of
William of Orange, the Protestant English king and a Dutch
stadholder.
Heraldry
★ In English
heraldry, orange is considered synonymous with the
tincture tenne. However, its use as a heraldic tincture is relatively rare, as it is considered a "stain" (a deprecated tincture) by some. In continental heraldry, tenne is more often deemed to denote a
burnt orange colour.
Holidays
★ The colours orange and
black represent the
holiday Halloween (
31 October) because orange is the colour of
pumpkins and black is the colour of night and is associated with doom, despair and darkness.
★ The colours orange and
brown represent the United States holiday
Thanksgiving.
Military
★ In the
United States Army, orange is the colour of the
United States Army Signal Corps.
National colours
★ Orange is the national colour of the
Netherlands and is seen on its original flag and coat of arms.
★ Orange, white, and green are the national colours of
Ireland,
Niger, and
Côte d'Ivoire.
Mysticism
★ In the
metaphysics of the ''
New Age Prophetess'',
Alice A. Bailey, in her system called the
Seven Rays which classifies
humans into seven different metaphysical personality types, the ''fifth ray'' of ''concrete science'' is represented by the colour ''orange''. People who have this metaphysical personality type are said to be ''on the Orange Ray''.
★ Orange is used to symbolically represent the second (
Swadhisthana)
chakra.
★
Psychics who claim to be able to observe the
aura with their
third eye report that an orange aura is associated with intellectual ambition.
[10]
Politics
★ Orange was the rallying colour of the 2004 – 2005
Orange Revolution in
Ukraine and has thus become a colour symbolising
opposition to tyranny around the world.
★ Orange also may sometimes be symbolic of the political concept of
democratic socialism, as it is related to socialist
red, but is not red.
★ Orange is used as a rallying colour by Jewish settlers in the
Gaza Strip who oppose the
Gaza Pull-Out plan.
★
Ulster Unionism is associated with orange, due to its Protestant symbolism and connection to
King William III
★ Orange is the
party colour of:
★
★
Fidesz-MPSZ in
Hungary
★
★
CD&V,
Flanders,
Belgium
★
★
People's National Party,
Jamaica
★
★ The
Justice and Truth Alliance,
Romania
★
★
People First Party,
Republic of China (Taiwan)
★
★
New Democratic Party,
Canada
★
★
June List,
Sweden
★
★
Free Patriotic Movement,
Lebanon
★
★
Bharatiya Janata Party,
India
★
★
Pora or "High Time",
Ukraine — see
Orange Revolution
★
★
Liberal Democrats,
United Kingdom
★
★
Social Democratic Party,
Portugal
★
★
People's Party (Spain) since 2005
★
★
BZÖ,
Jörg Haider's newly formed party in
Austria
★
★
National Union (
Israel)
★
★
Reformed Political Party,
Netherlands
★
★
Christian Democratic Union,
Germany
★
★
Union for French Democracy and
Democratic Movement,
France
★
★
Democratic Party (Italy)
★
★
European Democratic Party
Prosody
★ The word "orange" is one of few in the English language which cannot be
rhymed. In a children's book of verse, in a poem titled "Color," there are these lines:
''What is red? a
poppy's red, in its
barley bed.
''What is orange? Why, an orange--just an orange!
Safety Signalling
★ Orange is the contrasting colour of blue and is highly visible against a clear sky. Therefore, orange is often used in
safety. See:
Safety orange and
Dayglow orange
★ The colour orange is often used for visibility enhancement.
Religion
★ Orange signifies
Protestantism in
Northern Ireland (see
Orange Institution) and to a lesser extent in the
Republic of Ireland (the orange part of whose flag represents the Protestant population)
[11])
★ Orange represents
Hinduism in the
flags of
India and
Sri Lanka. Hindu
gurus usually wear orange robes.
Sport
★
★ Orange is (usually) the colour of the
Netherlands national football team and all other Dutch national teams and athletes.
★
★ Orange is also the colour of the
Ivory Coast national football team.
★
★ In American collegiate athletics, orange is combined with other colours to form the colours for:
★
★
★
Auburn University
★
★
★
Boise State University
★
★
★
Campbell University
★
★
★
Clemson University
★
★
★
Oklahoma State University
★
★
★
Oregon State University
★
★
★
Princeton University
★
★
★ The
Rochester Institute of Technology
★
★
★
Sam Houston State University
★
★
★ The
University of Illinois
★
★
★ The
University of Florida
★
★
★ The
University of Miami
★
★
★ The
University of Virginia
★
★
★
University of Tennessee
★
★
★ The
University of Texas
★
★
★ The
University of Texas at El Paso
★
★
★
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
★
★ Princeton's Ultimate Frisbee team is nicknamed "Clockwork Orange" after the
book.
★
★
The Orange is the name of several sports teams at Syracuse, in addition to being the university's colour.
★
★ American professional teams that use orange as a primary colour include the
Baltimore Orioles,
San Francisco Giants and
New York Mets of
Major League Baseball, the
Chicago Bears,
Cleveland Browns,
Cincinnati Bengals,
Denver Broncos, and
Miami Dolphins of the
National Football League, the
New York Knicks, the
Phoenix Suns and the
Charlotte Bobcats of the
National Basketball Association and the
Philadelphia Flyers and
New York Islanders of the National Hockey League.
★
★ Orange is the colour of the second equipation of Valencia CF (Spain). The
Land of Valencia has oranges as a traditional produce.
★
★ Orange is the colour of
Blackpool FC in England
★
★ The Hoover
Crips set wears orange along with some
Folk Nation sets.
★
★ Orange is the colour of the ball in
Snooker Plus with an 8-point value.
★
★ Orange is also the colour of J-league football team, Omiya Ardija.
★
★ Finnish SM-Liiga ice-hockey team
Tappara is famous for unusual orange hockey pants.
Security
★ The
U.S. Department of Homeland Security's code orange on its terror threat scale represents a high risk, second highest to
severe.
Transportation
★ Deluxe
International orange is the colour of the paint on
San Francisco's
Golden Gate Bridge
★ The U.S.
Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices specifies orange for use in temporary and construction signage.
===
Thailand ===
Orange is associated with
Thursday on the
Thai solar calendar. Anyone may wear orange on Thursdays and anyone born on a Thursday may adopt orange as their colour.
References
1. W3C TR CSS3 Color Module, HTML4 color keywords
2. Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 200
3. W3C TR CSS3 Color Module, HTML4 color keywords
4. Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York:1930--McGraw-Hill--Discussion of color Orange, Page 170
5. Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 200; Color Sample: Orange Peel Page 43 Plate 10 Color Sample L10.
6. Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 205; Color Sample: Carrot Orange Page 27 Plate 2 Color Sample H11
7. Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 192; Color Sample: Carrot Orange Page 43 Plate 10 Color Sample C11; see discussion of color "carrot orange" on page 152.
8. Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York: 1930--McGraw-Hill (see under Burnt Orange in Index, Page 191)
9. Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 191
10. Swami Panchadasi ''The Human Aura: Astral Colors and Thought Forms'' Des Plaines, Illinois, USA:1912--Yogi Publications Society Page 33
11. Irel=and's Washington DC Embassy webpage Accessed June 4, 2007.
See also
★
Amber
★
List of colours
★ Safety orange
★
Tangerine
External links
★
Orange Spectrum Color Chart Listing
★
All About The Color Orange
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