orange

Meanings

Noun

• An evergreen tree of the genus Citrus such as Citrus sinensis.
• The fruit of the orange tree; a citrus fruit with a slightly sour flavour.
• The colour of a ripe fruit of an orange tree, midway between red and yellow.
• Various drinks:

Adjective

• Having the colour of the fruit of an orange tree; yellowred; reddish-yellow.

Verb

• To color orange.
• To become orange.

Related

Similar words

• yellow-red

Opposite words

• nonorange

Origin

• From Middle English orenge, orange, from Old French pome orenge, influenced by Old Occitan auranja and calqued from Old Italian melarancio, melarancia, compound of mela and un'arancia, from Arabic نَارَنْج, from Persian نارنگ, from Sanskrit नारङ्ग, from (compare Tamil நார்த்தங்காய், compound of நரந்தம் and காய்; also Telugu నారంగము, Malayalam നാരങ്ങ, Kannada ನಾರಂಗಿ).
• For other similar cases of the incorrect division (or, elision/rebracketing) of the above Italian word, but in English, see :Category:English rebracketings.
• For the color sense, see Old English ġeolurēad; compare English blue-green.