From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| — Spectral coordinates —
| — Common connotations —
|nature, growth, hope, youth, sickness, health, Islam, spring, Saint Patrick's Day, money (US), and envy
— Color coordinates —
||(r, g, b)
||(0, 128~255, 0)
||(h, s, v)
||(120°, 100%, 50~100%)
X11 color names
|B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)
The word green
is closely related to the Old English
, “to grow”. It is used to describe plants or the ocean
. Sometimes it can also describe someone who is inexperienced, jealous, or sick. In the United States of America, green
is a slang term
for money, among other things. Several colloquialisms have derived from these meanings, such as “green around the gills”, a phrase used to describe a person who looks ill.
have a green color, including emerald
, which is colored green by its chromium
content. Animals such as frogs, lizards, and other reptiles and amphibians, fish, insects, and birds, appear green because of a mixture of layers of blue and green coloring on their skin
. By far the largest contributor to green in nature is chlorophyll
, the chemical by which plants photosynthesize
. Many creatures have adapted to their green environments by taking on a green hue themselves as camouflage
Culturally, green has broad and sometimes contradictory meanings. In some cultures, green symbolizes hope and growth, while in others, it is associated with death, sickness, envy
, or the devil
. The most common associations, however, are found in its ties to nature. For example, Islam
venerates the color, as it expects paradise to be full of lush greenery. Green is also associated with regeneration, fertility and rebirth for its connections to nature. Recent political groups have taken on the color as symbol of environmental protection and social justice, and consider themselves part of the Green movement
, some naming themselves Green parties
. This has led to similar campaigns in advertising, as companies have sold green, or environmentally friendly
Etymology and definitions
The etymology of the word "green" is related to nature
The word green
comes from the Old English
, or, in its older form, groeni
. This adjective is closely related to the Old English verb growan
(“to grow”) and goes back into Western Germanic and Scandinavian languages
The first recorded use of green
as a color name in English
was in 700
Many Asian languages have no word distinguishing blue from green
, although recently published dictionaries do make the distinction.
word เขียว besides meaning "green" also means "rank" and "smelly" and holds other unpleasant associations.
, despite the existence of a word in the modern language meaning "green", the color is sometimes described as blue (青 Ao)
, as in blue traffic light (青信号 Ao shingō)
and blue leaves (青葉 Aoba)
, reflecting the absence of a word meaning "green" in old Japanese.
, the word for green is سبز sabz
, but this word can also mean "black" or "dark". In Persian erotic poetry, dark-skinned women are addressed as "green," as in phrases like سبز گندم گون sabz-gandom-gun
(literally "green wheat colored") or سبز مليح sabz-malih
("a green beauty").
Similarly, in Sudanese Arabic
, dark-skinned people are described as أخضر akhḍar
'green', instead of black.
Color vision and colorimetry
is responsible for the green color in plants.
of green is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength
of roughly 520–570 nm
Green is considered one of the additive
primary colors, along with red and blue. The additive color model defines colors emitted from a light source. For example, a mixture of green, red, and blue light will produce white light. In subtractive color
mixtures, which deals with colors found in pigments and dyes, green is created by mixing yellow and blue. On the HSV color wheel
, the complement
of green is magenta
; that is, a color corresponding to an equal mixture of red
light (one of the purples
). On a traditional color wheel, based on subtractive color, the complementary color to green is considered to be red
The sensitivity of the dark-adapted human eye is greatest at about 507 nm, a blue-green color, while the light-adapted eye is most sensitive about 555 nm, a slightly yellowish green.
Human eyes have color receptors known as cone cells
, of which there are three types. In some cases, one is missing or faulty, which can cause color blindness
, including the common inability to distinguish red and yellow from green, known as deuteranopia
or red–green color blindness.
Green is restful to the eye. Studies show that a green environment can reduce fatigue.
In minerals and chemistry
Many minerals provide pigments
which have been used in green paints and dyes over the centuries. Pigments, in this case, are minerals which reflect the color green, rather that emitting it through luminescent
qualities. The large number of green pigments makes it impossible to mention them all. Among the more notable green minerals, however is the emerald
, which is colored green by trace amounts of chromium
and sometimes vanadium
Chromium(III) oxide (Cr2
), is called chrome green
, also called viridian
or institutional green when used as a pigment.
For many years, the source of amazonite
's color was a mystery. Widely thought to have been due to copper
because copper compounds often have blue and green colors, the blue-green color is likely to be derived from small quantities of lead
and water in the feldspar
Copper is the source of the green color in malachite
pigments, chemically known as basic copper(II) carbonate.
Early painters would also use copper in the form of verdigris
mixed with wax
to create green pigmentation in paints.
Mixtures of oxidized cobalt
were also used to create green paints as early as the 18th century.
A more complete list of green minerals and pigments can be seen here
often appear green because light reflects off of a blue
underlayer of chemicals and through a yellow upperlayer, filtering the light to be primarily green.
Green is common in nature, as many plants are green because of a complex chemical known as chlorophyll
which is involved in photosynthesis
Animals typically use the color green as camouflage
, blending in with the chlorophyll green of the surrounding environment.
Green animals include, especially, amphibians
, and some fish
. Most fish, reptiles, amphibians, and birds appear green because of a reflection of blue light coming through an over-layer of yellow pigment. Perception of color can also be affected by the surrounding environment. For example, broadleaf forests typically have a yellow-green light about them as the trees filter the light. Turacoverdin is one chemical which can cause a green hue in birds, especially.
Invertebrates such as insects or mollusks often display green colors because of porphyrin
pigments, sometimes caused by diet. This can causes their feces to look green as well. Other chemicals which generally contribute to greenness among organisms are flavins
(lychochromes) and hemanovadin.
Humans have imitated this by wearing green clothing as a camouflage in military and other fields. Substances that may impart a greenish hue to one's skin include biliverdin
, the green pigment
, and ceruloplasmin
, a protein
that carries copper ions
In many folklores and literatures, green has traditionally been used to symbolize nature and its embodied attributes, namely those of life, fertility, and rebirth. Green was symbolic of resurrection and immortality in Ancient Egypt
; the god Osiris
was depicted as green-skinned.
It is often used to describe foliage and the sea, and has become a symbol of environmentalism
. Someone who works well with plants is said to have a green thumb
or green fingers
, and the word greenhorn
refers to an inexperienced person.
A company is said to be greenwashing
if they advertise positive environmental practices to cover up environmental destruction.
Green is used to describe anyone young, inexperienced, or gullible (probably by analogy to unripe, i.e. unready or immature, fruit).
Green was the traditional color worn by hunters in the 19th century particularly the shade called hunter green
. In the 20th century most hunters began wearing the color olive drab
, a shade of green, instead of hunter green. 
Love and lust
Stories of the medieval period
further portray it as representing love
and the base, natural desires of man.
In Persian and Sudanese poetry, dark-skinned women, called "green" women may be eroticized.
The Chinese term for cuckold
is "to wear a green hat."
It is because of this that it is extremely rare to see any Chinese man wearing a green hat.
Green is also used to describe jealousy and envy.
Death, decay, and evil
Green is also known to have signified witchcraft
, devilry and evil for its association with faeries
and spirits of early English folklore
. It also had an association with decay and toxicity.
Actor Bela Lugosi
wore green-hued makeup for the role of Dracula
in the 1927–28 Broadway stage production.
A green tinge in the skin is sometimes associated with nausea and sickness.
A physically-ill person is said to look green around the gills
The color, when combined with gold, is seen as representing the fading of youth.
In the Celtic tradition
, green was avoided in clothing for its superstitious association with misfortune and death.
Green is thought to be an unlucky color in British and British-derived cultures,
where green cars, wedding dresses, and theater costumes are all the objects of superstition. Spider-Man villains
were often colored green to represent a contrast to the hero's red.
In some Far East
cultures the color green is often used as a symbol of sickness and/or nausea;
The United States one dollar note, like all other American dollar bills, is historically green.
In areas that use the U.S. Dollar
as currency, green carries a connotation of money, wealth, and capitalism
, because green is the color of United States banknotes
, giving rise to the slang term greenback
One of the more notable uses of this meaning is found in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
. In this story is the Emerald City
, where everyone wears tinted glasses which make everything look green. According to the populist interpretation of the story
, the city’s color is used by the author, L. Frank Baum
, to illustrate the financial system of America in his day, as he lived in a time when America was debating the use of paper money versus gold.
Green can communicate safety to proceed, as in traffic lights
In China, green is associated with the east, with sunrise, and with life and growth.
In Thailand, the color green is consider auspicious
for those born on a Wednesday day (light green for those born at night .)
Nationality and politics
Several countries use green on their flags for symbolic or cultural reasons. Green, for example is one of the three colors (along with red and black, or red and gold) of Pan-Africanism
. Several African countries thus use the color on their flags, including South Africa, Ghana
, and Zimbabwe
. The Pan-African colors
are borrowed from the Ethiopian flag
, one of the oldest independent African countries. Green in these cases represents the natural richness of Africa.
Many flags of the Islamic world
are green, as the color is considered sacred in Islam (see below). The flag of Hamas
as well as the flag of Iran
, is green, symbolizing their Islamist
The flag of Libya
consists of a simple green field with no other characteristics. It is the only national flag in the world with just one color and no design, insignia, or other details.
In the run-up to Iran's 2009 presidential election
, the reformist candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi
chose green as his campaign color, and it became pervasive among his supporters during the campaign and the post-election protests.
Green is the lowest of the three bands on the flag of India
. The green stands for fertility and prosperity. earlier Indian flags had contained a similar green band representing Islam, the second-most predominant religion in India.
Other countries use flags for reasons of heraldry, or to represent lush national vegetation. In heraldry
, green is called vert
(French for "green"). Fourteenth century documents describe vert as a symbol of "jolliness and youth, but also of beauty and shame" as well as of death. Vert is used for the flags of Wales and Hungary, and is the basis for the Brazilian flag
Other countries using green in their flags use it to represent their country's lush vegetation, as in the flag of Jamaica
and hope in the future, as in the flag of Nigeria
Green is a symbol of Ireland, which is often referred to as the “Emerald Isle”. The color is particularly identified with the republican
traditions in modern times. It is used this way on the flag of the Republic of Ireland, in balance with white
and the Protestant orange
Green is a strong trend in the Irish holiday St. Patrick’s Day
Green has become the symbolic color of environmentalism
, chosen for its association with nature, health, and growth. The Green Party
is any of various political parties emphasizing ecology
, grassroots democracy
, and social justice
. Green Parties, now active in over one hundred countries, are more broadly included in the green movement, and most are members of the Global Green Network
The association of green with advocates of the environment has extended to other circles as well, as is the case with Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople
, who is often referred to as the “Green Patriarch” because the new environmental focus which he brought about within the Ecumenical Patriarchate
Main article: Green in Islam
The Libyan flag
is completely green, in honor of Islam's veneration of the color.
Notes and references
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- ^ a b c d Oxford English Dictionary
- ^ a b Khalifa, Rashad (trans). "Sura 76, The Human (Al-Insaan)". Quran The Final Testament. http://www.masjidtucson.org/quran/noframes/ch76.html#21. Retrieved 2007-11-30.
- ^ W3C TR CSS3 Color Module, HTML4 color keywords. W3C. (May 2003). Retrieved on 2007-12-01.
- ^ "X11 rgb.txt". http://cvsweb.xfree86.org/cvsweb/*checkout*/xc/programs/rgb/rgb.txt?rev=1.1.
- ^ a b "Glossary Term: Color wheel". Sanford Corp.. 2005. http://www.sanford-artedventures.com/study/g_color_wheel.html. Retrieved 2007-11-22.
- ^ Harper, Douglas (November 2001). "Online Etymology Dictionary". http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=green&searchmode=none. Retrieved 2007-11-22.
- ^ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 196
- ^ Newman, Paul and Martha Ratliff. Linguistic Fieldwork. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. ISBN 0521669375 pg. 105
- ^ "English: Thai Dictionary OnLine". 4M System. 2007. http://english-thai-dictionary.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=4f45ab7ea8c50b85369a44a3453bdb91&. Retrieved 2007-11-30.
- ^ F. Steingass, A Comprehensive Persian-English Dictionary s.v. سبز
- ^ a b Carla N. Daughtry, "Greenness in the Field," Michigan Today, University of Michigan, Fall 1997
- ^ "Human Vision and Color Perception". Olympus Microscopy Resource Center. http://www.olympusmicro.com/primer/lightandcolor/humanvisionintro.html. Retrieved 2007-09-19.
- ^ "Human Vision and Color Perception". Olympus Microscopy Resource Center. http://www.olympusmicro.com/primer/lightandcolor/humanvisionintro.html. Retrieved 2007-09-19.
- ^ a b c d e The New Encyclopædia Britannica. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2002. ISBN 0852297874
- ^ Laird, Donald A. "Fatigue: Public Enemy Number One: What It Is and How to Fight It." The American Journal of Nursing (Sep 1933) 33.9 pgs. 835-841.
- ^ Hurlbut, Cornelius S. Jr, & Kammerling, Robert C., 1991, Gemology, p. 203, John Wiley & Sons, New York
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- ^ Robertson, D. W. Jr. "Why the Devil Wears Green." Modern Language Notes. (Nov 1954) 69.7 pgs. 470-472
- ^ de Vries, Ad (1976). Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company. pp. 226–28. ISBN 0-7204-8021-3.
- ^ The article on greenwashing discusses several examples.
- ^ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 162--Discussion of color Hunter Green
- ^ Chamberlin, Vernon A. “Symbolic Green: A Time-Honored Characterizing Device in Spanish Literature.” Hispania. 51.1 (Mar 1968) pp. 29-37
- ^ Goldhurst, William. “The Green and the Gold: The Major Theme of Gawain and the Green Knight.” College English. 20.2 (Nov 1958) pp. 61-65 doi:10.2307/372161
- ^ Sommer, Matthew Harvey (2002). Sex, Law, and Society in Late Imperial China. Stanford: Stanford University Press. p. 218. ISBN 0804745595. http://books.google.ca/books?id=E6ClbegXuWUC. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
- ^ Gee, Marcus (29 Aug 2007). "Green hats and other ways to blow a deal in China". Scripps Newspaper Group Online. http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/26365. Retrieved 2007-11-22.
- ^ Williams, Margaret. The Pearl Poet, His Complete Works. Random House, 1967.
- ^ Skal, David J. (1990). Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from Novel to Stage to Screen. Andre Deutch. p. 85. ISBN 0-233-98766-5.
- ^ Ford, Mark. Self Improvement of Relationship Skills through Body Language. City: Llumina Press, 2004. ISBN 1932303790 pg. 81
- ^ Lewis, John S. "Gawain and the Green Knight." College English. 21.1 (Oct 1959) pp. 50–51
- ^ The Idea of the Green Knight, Lawrence Besserman, ELH, Vol. 53, No. 2. (Summer, 1986), pp. 219-239. The Johns Hopkins University Press.
- ^ Why The Devil Wears Green, D. W. Robertson Jr., Modern Language Notes, Vol. 69, No. 7. (Nov., 1954), pp. 470-472. The Johns Hopkins University Press.
- ^ "Folklore and Symbolism of Green," by John Hutchings in Folklore, 1997, 108:55.
- ^ "Green is an unlucky color for automobiles". Snopes.com. 2007-02-27. http://www.snopes.com/autos/cursed/green.asp. Retrieved 2007-04-03.
- ^ Sean Elliott (2008-04-11). "Spectacular Spider-Man producer Victor Cook unmasks Spider secrets: Part 2". iF Magazine. http://www.ifmagazine.com/feature.asp?article=2718. Retrieved 2008-04-12.
- ^ Kalb, Ira. Creating Your Own Marketing Makes Good $ & Sense. K & A Press, 1989. ISBN 0924050012 pg. 210
- ^ Carruthers, Bruce G.; Sarah Babb. "The Color of Money and the Nature of Value: Greenbacks and Gold in Postbellum America." The American Journal of Sociology. (May 1996) 101.6 pgs. 1556-1591
- ^ Yoon, Hong-Key. The Culture of Feng-Shui in Korea. Lexington: Lexington Books, 2006. ISBN 0739113488 pg. 27
- ^ "THAI BIRTH DAY COLORS AND BUDDHA IMAGE". United States Muay Thai Association Inc. 16 October 2004. http://www.usmta.com/Thai-Birthday.htm. Retrieved 14 November 2009. "An innovation of the Ayutthaya period."
- ^ Murrell, Nathaniel et al. Chanting down Babylon. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998. ISBN 1566395844 pg. 135
- ^ Friedland, Roger and Richard Hecht. To Rule Jerusalem. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. ISBN 0520220927 pg. 461
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- ^ "Even Iran Can Change". Peyvand. 06/11/09. http://www.payvand.com/news/09/jun/1119.html. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
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- ^ Brault, Gerard J. (1997). Early Blazon: Heraldic Terminology in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries, (2nd ed.). Woodbridge, UK: The Boydell Press. ISBN 0-85115-711-4.
- ^ Smith, Whitney. Flag Lore of All Nations. Brookfield: Millbrook Press, 2001. ISBN 0761317538 pg. 49
- ^ Amienyi, Osabuohien. Communicating National Integration. Ashgate Publishing, 2005. ISBN 0754644251 pg. 43
- ^ "Guidelines for Use of the National Flag" (RTF). Irish Government. http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/attached_files/RTF%20files/The%20National%20Flag.rtf. Retrieved 2006-12-11.
- ^ "The History of St. Patrick's Day". OttawaPlus. 2007. http://www.ottawaplus.ca/feature/st_patrick/103/history_lore.jsp. Retrieved 2007-11-22.
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