orange

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈɒr.ɪndʒ/, US /ˈɔːr.ɪndʒ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English orenge, orange,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French orenge, in pome d'orenge (modern French orange),^[4][2][5] and Medieval Latin pomum de orenge,^[4][2] which the American Heritage traces to Old Italian melarancio, from mela “fruit” and arancio “orange tree”,^[6] and Merriam-Webster to Old Occitan auranja.^[7] These are from Arabic نَارَنْج (nāranj),^[4][2][8] from Persian نَارَنْگ (nārang),^[4][2][5][8] from Sanskrit नारङ्ग (nāraṅga, “orange tree”),^[4][2][8] a word of uncertain origin, possibly Dravidian.^[4][2][6] The initial n- was probably lost by confusion with the indefinite article, as in une narange, unlike Spanish naranja, which kept it;^[4][2] the vowel may have been influenced by French or “gold” and by the town of Orange, through which oranges were shipped north.^[4][2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The fruit: probably about 1380 in Barnhart,^[2] the late 14th century in Etymonline,^[4] and as a surname from 1296.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The orange tree probably came from northern India or southeast Asia.^[4][9] The Arabs brought the bitter Seville orange to Sicily and Spain in the Middle Ages,^[9][6] and in the 15th and 16th centuries Portuguese traders brought the sweet orange from India or China, which displaced the bitter one;^[4][9] Modern Greek still calls the sweet orange portokali “Portuguese”.^[4] The word was not used as a colour in English until the 1510s, in orange colour;^[4] reddish-yellow colours had been called citrine or saffron.^[4] The adjective is from 1542,^[2][7] by 1620 used freely, as in “orange tawny”.^[2] Orange juice is from 1723,^[4] and the game of oranges and lemons, naming the bells of London churches, is recorded from the early 19th century.^[9]

Timeline

• 1296 – as a surname.^[2]
• c. 1380 – the fruit.^[2]
• 1510s – the colour.^[4]
• 1542 – adjective.^[2][7]
• 1615 – the orange tree.^[10]
• 1723 – orange juice.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A round fruit with a reddish-yellow rind and a juicy, sectioned pulp.
2. The evergreen citrus tree that bears it.
3. The colour between red and yellow in the spectrum.
4. (British) An orange-flavoured drink.

Adjective

1. Of the colour orange.

Word family

• orangeade
• orangish
• orangery
• orangewood

Usage notes

Orange as the name of the Dutch dynasty, to which William III of England belonged, is from the town of Orange on the Rhône, and gave the Orange lodges, Orangemen and Orange colours of Irish Protestantism in the late 18th century.^[5][3][11]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
9. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press