Hello colour lover!

This month we’re going to be looking at some of the fun facts about the colour orange, which just happens to be my favourite colour! Here I share my top 5 favourite facts about this wonderful hue!

1. The evolution of the colour name Orange

What do you do when you don’t a word for a colour? If an English-speaking person wanted to refer to something orange coloured, they might have used the Old English word geoluread, which literally means yellow-red, or reached for the nearest word available – red.

The word for the colour orange didn’t begin to appear in English until after the fruit was imported into Britain in the Middle Ages. The first recorded use of orange to refer to a colour was in 1512.

When you see a robin’s ‘red’-breast you probably noticed it is actually orange. The bird was named before the English language had a word for the colour ‘orange’ as were many things that were really orange.

Other examples of orange things called red are the red kite bird, red squirrel, red-headed people and red deer. It makes sense given they had no word for orange yet.

2. The many names for Orange

I was thinking of the different names we have for orange. We have names like pumpkin, tangerine, marigold and burnt orange , Persian and vermilion orange.

And then there’s names that we might not at first thing of as orange; softer hues like peach and apricot and then orange hues with a touch of pink such as salmon and coral.

Can you think of any other?

3. My favourite is Orange

Do you have a colour you love? One that lights you up every time you see it? For me that’s orange. But not just any orange, it’s the bright warm orange of a calendula marigold.

It’s a colour for me that is full of joy and playful fun! It makes me smile whenever I see it.

4. Colour in culture Orange

In America, the orange pumpkin is symbolic of Halloween. The tradition apparently originates from the Celts who would hollow out and carved faces on large turnips to fit a candle inside believing the light shining out through the carved faces would scared away evil spirits.

In India, it is a sacred colour. For Buddhists, orange is the colour of spirituality and peace. In Japan, it is the colour of civilisation and knowledge.

5. The psychology of Orange

Orange is the colour that communicates fun. It expresses frivolity and playfulness, connecting us back to our inner child.

Orange is mischievous in a good-natured way and is the colour that stimulates social interaction and friendly conversation.

How you’re likely to feel will depend on the intensity of the colour. For example, an intense, bright orange will be different from the feeling you experience when looking at a softer orange. The gentle orange tones like salmon or coral often contain a small amount of pink. This combination can create a feeling of romance in a sensual way.

Want to learn more?

Extracts from The Little Book of Colour.

Head over to buy The Little Book of Colour where you can find out How to Use the Psychology of Colour to Transform your Life.

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Wishing you a colourful day!
Karenx

Image credits

Orange title photo by Photo by Nathan Duck on Unsplash
Red Robin photo by Simon Godfrey on Unsplash
Tones of orange – Karen Haller
Marigold – Shutterstock
Orange Pumpkin photo by David Edkins on Unsplash
Orange swirl photo by Paweł Czerwiński on Unsplash