Orange (colour)

Orange  — Spectral coordinates — Wavelength 590–620 nm Frequency 505–480 THz  — Common connotations — warning, autumn, desire, fire, Halloween, Thanksgiving, prisoners, Orangism (Netherlands), Unionism in Ireland, Indian religions, engineering, determination, compassion, endurance, optimism — Colour coordinates — Hex triplet #FF7F00 RGBB (r, g, b) (255, 127, 0) HSV (h, s, v) (30°, 100%, 100%) Source HTML Colour Chart @30 B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) Orange (web colour) — Colour coordinates — Hex triplet #FFA500 sRGBB (r, g, b) (255, 165, 0) HSV (h, s, v) (39°, 100%, 100%) Source CSS/X11/SVG[1] B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) Dark orange (web colour) — Colour coordinates — Hex triplet #FF8C00 sRGBB (r, g, b) (255, 140, 0) HSV (h, s, v) (34°, 100%, 100%) Source X11/SVG[1] B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) Burnt orange — Colour coordinates — Hex triplet #CC5500 RGBB (r, g, b) (204, 85, 0) HSV (h, s, v) (25°, 100%, 80%) Source University of Texas at Austin[2] B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) Arch in Arches National Park, Utah TNT post sign in the Netherlands A field of orange California poppies. Citi Field's left field foul pole.

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. It is numerically halfway between red and yellow in a gamma-compressed RGB colour space, the expression of which is the RGB colour wheel. The complementary colour of orange is blue. Orange pigments are largely in the ochre or cadmium families, and absorb mostly blue light.

Oranges (fruit)

Etymology

The colour orange is named after the orange fruit, after the appearance of the ripe fruit.^[3] Before this word was introduced to the English-speaking world, the colour was referred to as ġeolurēad (yellow-red).

The first recorded use of orange as a colour name in English was in 1512,^[4][5] in a will now filed with the Public Records Office.

Variations

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.

Orange peel

Orange fruit and cross section

Displayed to the left 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.

A discussion of the difference between the colour orange (the colour halfway between red and yellow, i.e. colour wheel orange, RGB #FF7F00, shown at the top of this article) and the colour orange peel (the actual colour of the outer skin of an orange), may be found in Maerz and Paul.^[6]

The first recorded use of orange peel as a colour name in English was in 1839.^[7]

Burnt orange

Burnt orange has been in use 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 University of Texas at Austin, Westwood High School (Austin, Texas), Clemson University, Virginia Tech, Auburn University, and Mesa Verde High School (Citrus Heights, California).

This variation of orange is one of the primary colours for the American Football team the Cleveland Browns. Burnt orange was popular in interior design during the 1970s, and is often associated with this period. Red headed peoples usually have hair that is more accurately a burnt orange colour.

Brown

Brown is actually derived from the orange part (orange + grey) of the colour spectrum. It can be described as an especially dark orange.

The first recorded use of brown as a colour name in English was in about 1000 in the Metres of Boethius.^[9][10]

Symbolism

Academia

• In the United States and Canada, orange regalia is associated with the field of engineering.^[11]

Geography and history

• Historically and culturally, saffron, red and white have always been the most prominent colours of Hinduism and have been regularly worn, particularly in religious ceremonies, in India for more than 2000 years.

• Orange is the national colour of the Netherlands. The royal family, the House of Orange-Nassau, derives its name in part from its former holding, the principality of Orange. (The title Prince of Orange is still used for the Dutch heir apparent.)
• The Republic of the Orange Free State (Dutch: Oranje-Vrijstaat) was an independent Boer republic in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a British colony and a province of the Union of South Africa. It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province. Extending between the Orange and Vaal rivers, its borders were determined by the United Kingdom in 1848 when the region was proclaimed as the Orange River Sovereignty, with a seat of a British Resident in Bloemfontein.

• Oranjemund (German for: "Mouth of Orange") is a town situated in the extreme southwest of Namibia, on the northern bank of the Orange River mouth.

Universities

Orange can also be associated with colleges. Among notable colleges with orange as a colour include:

• Auburn University
• Boise State University
• Bowling Green State University
• Caltech
• Clemson University
• Florida A&M University
• University of Florida
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• University of Miami
• Oklahoma State University
• Oregon State University
• Princeton University
• Syracuse University
• University of Tennessee
• University of Texas at Austin
• University of Texas at El Paso
• University of Virginia
• Virginia Tech

Professional sports

• In the sport of baseball some foul poles are orange, but only one in Major League Baseball, belonging to the New York Mets at their home ballpark Citi Field (and previously, Shea Stadium).

Orange is a team colour for a number of professional sports teams.

Major League Baseball

• Baltimore Orioles
• Detroit Tigers
• New York Mets
• San Francisco Giants

National Basketball Association

• Oklahoma City Thunder
• Charlotte Bobcats
• New York Knicks
• Phoenix Suns

National Football League

• Chicago Bears
• Cincinnati Bengals
• Cleveland Browns
• Denver Broncos
• Miami Dolphins

Indian Premier League

• Kochi Tuskers Kerala

National Hockey League

• Philadelphia Flyers
• New York Islanders
• Edmonton Oilers
• Anaheim Ducks
• San Jose Sharks

Australian Football League

• Greater Western Sydney Football Club

National Rugby League

• West Tigers

A league

• Brisbane Roar

Football League Championship

• Blackpool F.C.

Conference National

• Luton Town F.C.

Scottish Premier League

• Dundee United

Ukrainian Premier League

• FC Shakhtar Donetsk

Politically

• The saffron stripe in the flag of India signifies courage, sacrifice and the spirit of renunciation.
• Orange is the national colour of the Netherlands (See above at: Geography and history). Orange was seen on its original flag until the middle of the 17th century.
• Orange, white, and green are the national colours of India, the Republic of Ireland, Niger and Côte d'Ivoire.
• The Orange Institution is a pro-British Protestant association based in Northern Ireland.
• In the United States Army, orange is the colour of the United States Army Signal Corps.
• The US Department of Homeland Security's code orange on its terror threat scale represents a high risk, second highest to severe.
• Prisoners incarcerated in many American jails and prisons are made to wear orange jumpsuits so they will be easy to see if they try to escape.
• Deluxe International orange is the colour of the paint on San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge.
• The US Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices specifies orange for use in temporary and construction signage.
• Orange was the rallying colour of the 2004 – 2005 Orange Revolution in Ukraine.
• Orange is sometimes associated with various Christian democratic and populist parties.
• Orange was the colour used by the historical Liberal Party of the United Kingdom
• Orange was used as a rallying colour by Israelis (such as Jewish settlers) who opposed Israel's unilateral disengagement plan in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in 2005.
• Orange is the party colour of:

Religious and metaphysical

Buddhist monks in the Theravada tradition typically wear saffron robes, although occasionally maroon, the colour normally worn by Vajrayana Buddhist monks is worn.

• Orange, or more specifically deep saffron, is the most sacred colour of Hinduism.
• Orange is used to symbolically represent the second (Swadhisthana) chakra.^[12]
• Hindu and Sikh flags atop mandirs and gurdwaras, respectively, are typically a saffron coloured pennant.^[13]
• Saffron robes are often worn by Hindu swamis and Buddhist monks in the Theravada tradition.
• Orange represents the sin of gluttony.

Social

Orange heraldic tincture, in colour and monochrome representations

• 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.
• The colours orange and black represent the secular 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.
• Orange is the contrasting colour of blue and is highly visible against a clear sky. Therefore, shades of orange such as safety orange are often used in high visibility clothing and other safety equipment and objects.
• Due to its brightness, orange is used in the construction industry on road signs and safety jackets to warn passers-by of the pending dangers ahead.
• Orange is used to promote awareness and prevention of self-injury.

See also

• Amber
• List of colours

Notes

External links

• Orange Spectrum Color Chart Listing
• All Things Orange - slideshow by Life magazine