Orange (word)

 ( English Words ) 

The word " orange" is a noun and an adjective in the English language. In both cases, it refers primarily to the orange fruit and the color orange, but has many other derivative meanings.

The word is derived from a Dravidian language, and it passed through numerous other languages including Sanskrit and based on Nārang in Persian language and after that Old French before reaching the English language. The earliest uses of the word in English refer to the fruit, and the color was later named after the fruit. Before the English-speaking world was exposed to the fruit, the color was referred to as "yellow-red" ( in Old English) or "red-yellow".

"Orange" has no true rhyme. There are several or near-rhymes, as well as some and or phrases that rhyme with it. This lack of rhymes has inspired many humorous poems and songs.

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Etymology The word "orange" entered Middle English from Old French and Anglo-Norman orenge. The earliest recorded use of the word in English is from the 13th century and referred to the fruit. The first recorded use of "orange" as a colour name in English was in 1502, in a description of clothing purchased for Margaret Tudor.

Kassia St. Clair (2026). 9781473630819, John Murray. ISBN 9781473630819

Deb Salisbury (2026). 9780973927825, Five Rivers Chapmanry. . ISBN 9780973927825

Other sources cite the first recorded use as 1512, in a will now filed with the Public Record Office. It is generally thought that Old French the Italian language melarancio ("fruit of the orange tree", with mela "fruit") as pume orenge (with pume "fruit").

(2026). 9780618454501, Houghton Mifflin. . ISBN 9780618454501

Although pume orenge is attested earlier than melarancio in available written sources, Lexicography believe that the Italian word is actually older.

The word ultimately derives from a Dravidian language – possibly Tamil language நாரம் nāram or Telugu language నారింజ nāriṃja — via Sanskrit नारङ्ग nāraṅgaḥ "orange tree". From there the word entered Persian language نارنگ nārang and then Arabic language نارنج nāranj. The initial n was lost through rebracketing in Italian and French, though some varieties of Arabic lost the n earlier. Compare Spanish cognate with initial n

The place named Orange has a separate etymology. The Roman-Celtic settlement was founded in 36 or 35 Anno Domini and originally named Arausio, after a Celts water god.

Matthew Bunson (1995). 9780195102338, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195102338

The Principality of Orange was named for this place and not for the color. Some time after the sixteenth century, though, the color orange was adopted as a canting arms symbol of the House of Orange-Nassau.

David Brodsky (2026). 9780292716681, University of Texas Press. . ISBN 9780292716681

The color eventually came to be associated with Protestantism, as a result of the participation by the House of Orange on the Protestant side in the French Wars of Religion, the Irish campaigns, and the Netherlands Eighty Years' War.

Pasi Ihalainen (2026). 9789004144859, BRILL. ISBN 9789004144859

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Pronunciation With forest, warrant, horrible, etc., orange forms a class of English words where the North American pronunciation of what is pronounced as , the vowel in lot, in British Received Pronunciation varies between the vowel in north ( or depending on the cot– caught merger) and that in lot ( or depending on the father– bother merger). The former is more common while the latter is mainly found on the East Coast of the United States. Pages 136–137, 476, 479, 525. While many dictionaries of North American English include the north pronunciation as the primary or only variant,

(1997). 9780771519819, Gage. ISBN 9780771519819

Merriam-Webster lists the lot variant first and glosses the north variant as "chiefly Northern & Midland" for orange but not for other words in the class ( forest etc.). Its Collegiate Dictionary listed north first until the 1973 eighth edition,

(1973). 9780877793380, G. & C. Merriam. ISBN 9780877793380

but has flipped the order since the 1983 ninth edition.

(1983). 9780877795087, Merriam-Webster. ISBN 9780877795087

Merriam-Webster is also unique in including monosyllabic variants ().

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Rhyme No common English language word is a full rhyme for "orange", though there are , such as "hinge", "lozenge", "syringe", and "porridge".

Dinda L. Gorlée (2026). 9789042016873, Rodopi. ISBN 9789042016873

Slang and otherwise uncommon examples exist. Although this property is not unique to the word—one study of 5,411 one-syllable English words found 80 words with no rhymes—the lack of rhyme for "orange" has garnered significant attention, and inspired many Light poetry.

Although "", a variant of "sporangium", is an eye rhyme for "orange", it is not a true rhyme as its second syllable is pronounced with an vowel reduction , and often stressed.

There are a number of proper nouns which rhyme or nearly rhyme with "orange", including The Blorenge, a mountain in Wales, and Gorringe, a surname. US Naval Commander Henry Honychurch Gorringe, the captain of the , who discovered Gorringe Ridge in 1875, led Arthur Guiterman to quip in "Local Note":

The slang word "blorange", a hair color between blond and orange, is a rhyme. It is attested from the early 2000s and appears in fashion-related media from about 2017.

Various linguistic or poetic devices provide for rhymes in some accents.

or phrases may give true or near rhymes. Examples include "door-hinge", "torn hinge", "or inch", and "a wrench". William Shepard Walsh attributes this verse featuring two multiple-word rhymes to Walter William Skeat:

Enjambment can also provide for rhymes. One example is Willard Espy's poem, "The Unrhymable Word: Orange".

Another example by Tom Lehrer relies on the /ˈɑrəndʒ/ pronunciation commonly used on the East Coast of the United States:

Rapper Eminem is noted for his ability to bend words so that they rhyme.

In his song "Business" from the album The Eminem Show, he makes use of such word-bending to rhyme "orange":

are sometimes contrived to rhyme with "orange". Composers Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel wrote the song "Oranges Poranges" to be sung by the Witchiepoo character on the television programme H.R. Pufnstuf.

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See also

• Rhymes with Orange, a syndicated comic strip

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External links

• Orange Rhymez!, a website that finds half-rhymes for "orange"

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