orange

orange · noun, adjective, verb¹

1. Italianmelarancia
2. Old FrenchOrengeinflu.
3. Old Occitanauranjainflu.
4. Old Frenchpomme d'orenge
5. Old Frenchorenge
6. Middle Frenchorange
7. Middle Englishorenge
8. English todayorange

Inherited from Middle English orenge, orange, from Old French pome orenge (“fruit orange”), influenced by the place name Orange (which is from Gaulish and unrelated to the word for the fruit and colour) and by Old Occitan auranja and calqued from Old Italian melarancio, melarancia, compound of mela (“apple”) and un'arancia (“an orange”), from Arabic نَارَنْج (nāranj), from Early Classical Persian نَارَنْگْ (nārang), from Sanskrit नारङ्ग (nāraṅga, “orange tree”), ultimately from Dravidian. Compare Tamil நாரங்காய் (nāraṅkāy), compound of நாரம் (nāram, “water”) and காய் (kāy, “fruit”); also Telugu నారంగము, నారింజ (nāraṅgamu, nāriñja), Malayalam നാരങ്ങ (nāraṅṅa), Kannada ನಾರಂಗಿ (nāraṅgi)). Doublet of aranzada. Originally borrowed as the surname (derived from the place name) in the 13th century, before the sense of the fruit was imported in the late 14th century and the colour in 1510. In the colour sense, largely displaced ġeolurēad, whence yellow-red.

Orange · proper noun, noun, adjective²

1. Sanskrit · derived fromनारङ्ग“orange tree”
2. Gaulish · derived from*arausi“temple of the head, cheek”
3. Latin · derived fromArausio
4. Vulgar Latin · derived from*Aurinica
5. Old French · derived fromOrenge
6. French · borrowed fromOrange
7. English todayOrange

Some senses from French Orange, from Old French Orenge (compare Occitan Aurenja), from Vulgar Latin *Aurinica, from Latin Arausio, from Gaulish *arausi (“temple of the head, cheek”). In British and Irish contexts, usually with particular reference to William III of England (Willem Hendrik van Oranje), the Dutch Protestant husband of Queen Mary II who ended Stuart rule in Britain and Ireland. Other senses from the common noun orange, ultimately from Sanskrit नारङ्ग (nāraṅga, “orange tree”).

Words from the same roots