The First Oranges Weren't Orange

It’s a classic chicken-and-egg question: which came first, the color or the fruit (Review)? In the case of orange, the answer is definitively the fruit. Before this citrus was widely imported into Europe from Asia around the late 15th century, the English language had no specific word for its vibrant hue. Objects we now call orange, from autumn leaves to red hair, were typically described as 'geoluhread,' an Old English term that literally translates to 'yellow-red.' The concept of orange as a distinct color simply didn't exist in the vocabulary.

The irony is that the original wild oranges that gave the color its name weren't even orange. These ancestral fruits, a hybrid of a pomelo and a mandarin from Southeast Asia, were often green when fully ripe. The orange color we associate with the fruit is the result of carotenoids, the same pigments found in carrots. In tropical climates, the consistently warm weather allows the green chlorophyll in the peel to persist, masking the orange underneath.

It was only when oranges began to be cultivated in cooler climates, such as the Mediterranean, that the familiar color became common. The chill of autumn nights causes the chlorophyll to break down, revealing the brilliant orange pigments within. As this version of the fruit grew in popularity, its name—derived from the Sanskrit 'nāranga'—was adopted to describe its unique color, forever linking the fruit and the hue.