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Chartreuse (color)
Encyclopedia
Chartreuse (the web color) is a color halfway between yellow and green that was named because of its resemblance to the green
color of one of the French liqueurs called green chartreuse
, introduced in 1764. Similarly chartreuse yellow is a yellow
color mixed with a small amount of green that was named because of its resemblance to the color of one of the French liqueurs called yellow chartreuse, introduced in 1838.
The term chartreuse was first used to refer to "a pale apple-green" in 1884. This was codified to refer to this brighter color when the X11
colors were formulated in 1987; by the early 1990s, they became known as the X11 web colors. The web color chartreuse is the color precisely halfway between green and yellow, so it is 50% green and 50% yellow. It is one of the tertiary colors of the HSV color wheel, also known as the RGB color wheel. Another name for this color is chartreuse green.
The color name chartreuse yellow , also known as chartreuse (traditional) or traditional chartreuse, refers to the much more yellowish tone of chartreuse than the web color "chartreuse" that was generally regarded as "chartreuse" (and still is regarded as such by many) before the X11 color
chartreuse (shown above) was formulated in 1987.
The first recorded use of chartreuse (meaning the color that is now called chartreuse yellow) in English was in 1892.
of chartreuse.
Displayed at right is the color pistachio, also called pistachio green, a representation of the color of the interior meat of a pistachio
nut
. It is also a representation of the color of pistachio ice cream
(one of the flavors of ice cream in spumoni
), and of pistachio pudding
.
The first recorded use of pistachio green as a color name in English was in 1789.
Source of color: ISCC-NBS Dictionary of Color Names (1955)--Color Sample of Pistachio Green (Color Sample #135).
Before the X11 colors were formulated in 1987, the color term yellow-green was used to refer to the color that is now designated as the web color chartreuse (chartreuse green), shown above. Now, the term "yellow-green" is used to refer to this medium desaturated shade of chartreuse.
Displayed at right is the color apple green, a representation of the color of the outer skin of a green apple.
The first recorded use of apple green as a color name in English was in 1648.
Source of color: ISCC-NBS Dictionary of Color Names (1955)--Color Sample of Apple Green (Color Sample #115).
is a dark shade of yellow typically seen on green olives. It can be formed by adding a little black to yellow dye or paint. As a color word in the English language, it is unexpectedly old, appearing in late Middle English
. Shaded toward green, it becomes olive drab. Olive can also be referred to as dark yellow. That the color olive is a shade of yellow can readily be ascertained by inspecting its hex code—the red and green values are equal, with no blue value, signifying a shade of yellow.
Sometimes people of what in the early 20th century was called the Mediterranean subrace
of the Caucasian race
are described as being "olive-skinned"
, to denote shades
of medium toned white skin
that is darker than the average color for Caucasians, such as many people from southern Italy. In religion
, olive is sometimes used as a Church color during Ordinary Time
. Shades of olive, such as Olive Drab, are frequently used for camouflage
, or by the military
in general. The complementary color
of olive is light blue.
The first recorded use of olive drab as a color name in English was in 1892.
Olive drab was the color of the standard fighting uniform for U.S. GIs and military vehicles during World War II. U.S. soldiers often referred to their uniforms as "OD's" due to the color. The color used at the beginning of the war by the US Army was officially called Olive Drab #3, which was replaced by the darker Olive Drab #7 by 1944, and which was again replaced by Olive Green 107 or OG-107 in 1952 and continued as the official uniform color for combat fatigues through the Vietnam War
, until replaced by Engineer Research & Development Laboratories (ERDL) camouflage uniforms. The ERDL uniforms were then replaced by M81 woodland
camo fatigues as the primary US uniform scheme in the 1980s, and still retain olive drab as one of the color swatches in the pattern.
As a solid color, it is not as effective for camouflage as multiple-color camo schemes (i.e. US Army Combat Uniform
, Tigerstripe
, MARPAT
, Multicam
, etc.), though it is still used by the U.S. military to color webbing and accessories. The military refers to the color as Olive Green 107, or more commonly OG 107
. There are very few countries still issuing uni-color Olive Drab uniforms, Israel
, India
, Cuba
, and Austria
being the exceptions.
In the American novel
A Separate Peace
, Finny said to Gene, "...and in these times of war, we all see olivine drab, and we all know it is the patriotic color. All others aren't about the war; they aren't patriotic."
The color is currently defined by the FS-595 paint standard.
s
Electronics
Film
Vexillology
Video games
Green
Green is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometres. In the subtractive color system, it is not a primary color, but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue, or yellow and cyan; it is considered...
color of one of the French liqueurs called green chartreuse
Chartreuse (liqueur)
Chartreuse is a French liqueur made by the Carthusian Monks since the 1740s. It is composed of distilled alcohol aged with 130 herbal extracts. The liqueur is named after the Monks' Grande Chartreuse monastery, located in the Chartreuse Mountains in the general region of Grenoble in France...
, introduced in 1764. Similarly chartreuse yellow is a yellow
Yellow
Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, with no significant stimulation of the S cone cells. Light with a wavelength of 570–590 nm is yellow, as is light with a suitable mixture of red and green...
color mixed with a small amount of green that was named because of its resemblance to the color of one of the French liqueurs called yellow chartreuse, introduced in 1838.
Chartreuse (web color)
At right is displayed the web color chartreuse.The term chartreuse was first used to refer to "a pale apple-green" in 1884. This was codified to refer to this brighter color when the X11
X11 color names
In computing, on the X Window System, X11 color names are represented in a simple text file, which maps certain strings to RGB color values. It is shipped with every X11 installation, hence the name, and is usually located in <X11root>/lib/X11/rgb.txt.It is not known who originally compiled...
colors were formulated in 1987; by the early 1990s, they became known as the X11 web colors. The web color chartreuse is the color precisely halfway between green and yellow, so it is 50% green and 50% yellow. It is one of the tertiary colors of the HSV color wheel, also known as the RGB color wheel. Another name for this color is chartreuse green.
Chartreuse yellow
X11 color names
In computing, on the X Window System, X11 color names are represented in a simple text file, which maps certain strings to RGB color values. It is shipped with every X11 installation, hence the name, and is usually located in <X11root>/lib/X11/rgb.txt.It is not known who originally compiled...
chartreuse (shown above) was formulated in 1987.
The first recorded use of chartreuse (meaning the color that is now called chartreuse yellow) in English was in 1892.
Green-yellow
Displayed at right is the web color green-yellow, a light tintTint
In color theory, a tint is the mixture of a color with white.Tint may also refer to:* Tint control, an adjustment to correct for phase error in the picture color on a NTSC television set* Tint , an album by Merzbow...
of chartreuse.
Lawn green
Displayed at right is the web color lawn green, a bright tint of chartreuse.Pistachio
Pistachio
The pistachio, Pistacia vera in the Anacardiaceae family, is a small tree originally from Persia , which now can also be found in regions of Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Sicily and possibly Afghanistan , as well as in the United States,...
nut
Nut (fruit)
A nut is a hard-shelled fruit of some plants having an indehiscent seed. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts in English, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts...
. It is also a representation of the color of pistachio ice cream
Ice cream
Ice cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavours. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other sweeteners...
(one of the flavors of ice cream in spumoni
Spumoni
Spumone , plural spumoni, is a molded Italian ice cream made with layers of different colors and flavors, usually containing candied fruits and nuts....
), and of pistachio pudding
Pudding
Pudding most often refers to a dessert, but it can also be a savory dish.In the United States, pudding characteristically denotes a sweet milk-based dessert similar in consistency to egg-based custards, though it may also refer to other types such as bread and rice pudding.In the United Kingdom and...
.
The first recorded use of pistachio green as a color name in English was in 1789.
Source of color: ISCC-NBS Dictionary of Color Names (1955)--Color Sample of Pistachio Green (Color Sample #135).
Yellow-green
Displayed at right is the web color yellow-green, a dull medium shade of chartreuse.Before the X11 colors were formulated in 1987, the color term yellow-green was used to refer to the color that is now designated as the web color chartreuse (chartreuse green), shown above. Now, the term "yellow-green" is used to refer to this medium desaturated shade of chartreuse.
Apple green
The first recorded use of apple green as a color name in English was in 1648.
Source of color: ISCC-NBS Dictionary of Color Names (1955)--Color Sample of Apple Green (Color Sample #115).
Olive
OliveOlive
The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...
is a dark shade of yellow typically seen on green olives. It can be formed by adding a little black to yellow dye or paint. As a color word in the English language, it is unexpectedly old, appearing in late Middle English
Middle English
Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
. Shaded toward green, it becomes olive drab. Olive can also be referred to as dark yellow. That the color olive is a shade of yellow can readily be ascertained by inspecting its hex code—the red and green values are equal, with no blue value, signifying a shade of yellow.
Sometimes people of what in the early 20th century was called the Mediterranean subrace
Mediterranean race
The Mediterranean race was one of the three sub-categories into which the Caucasian race and the people of Europe were divided by anthropologists in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, following the publication of William Z. Ripley's book The Races of Europe...
of the Caucasian race
Caucasian race
The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...
are described as being "olive-skinned"
Olive skin
Olive skin describes a skin color range of some indigenous individuals who are from the Mediterranean and some other parts of Europe, Middle East and regions of South Asia, Southeast Asia and Central Asia. It may often be skin type 3 and 4 on the Fitzpatrick scale. However, this scale measures...
, to denote shades
Tints and shades
In color theory, a tint is the mixture of a color with white, which increases lightness, and a shade is the mixture of a color with black, which reduces lightness...
of medium toned white skin
Color metaphors for race
In some societies and among some anthropologists, color terminology was used to label races, sometimes in addition to a non-color term for the same race...
that is darker than the average color for Caucasians, such as many people from southern Italy. In religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
, olive is sometimes used as a Church color during Ordinary Time
Ordinary Time
Ordinary Time is a season of the Christian liturgical calendar, in particular the calendar of the Roman rite and related liturgical rites. The English name is intended to translate the Latin term Tempus per annum...
. Shades of olive, such as Olive Drab, are frequently used for camouflage
Camouflage
Camouflage is a method of concealment that allows an otherwise visible animal, military vehicle, or other object to remain unnoticed, by blending with its environment. Examples include a leopard's spotted coat, the battledress of a modern soldier and a leaf-mimic butterfly...
, or by the military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
in general. The complementary color
Complementary color
Complementary colors are pairs of colors that are of “opposite” hue in some color model. The exact hue “complementary” to a given hue depends on the model in question, and perceptually uniform, additive, and subtractive color models, for example, have differing complements for any given color.-...
of olive is light blue.
Olive drab
Olive drab is the color olive shaded toward a greener color.The first recorded use of olive drab as a color name in English was in 1892.
Olive drab was the color of the standard fighting uniform for U.S. GIs and military vehicles during World War II. U.S. soldiers often referred to their uniforms as "OD's" due to the color. The color used at the beginning of the war by the US Army was officially called Olive Drab #3, which was replaced by the darker Olive Drab #7 by 1944, and which was again replaced by Olive Green 107 or OG-107 in 1952 and continued as the official uniform color for combat fatigues through the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, until replaced by Engineer Research & Development Laboratories (ERDL) camouflage uniforms. The ERDL uniforms were then replaced by M81 woodland
M81 Woodland
Woodland pattern is the name of the default camouflage pattern issued to United States soldiers, Marines, airmen, and sailors from 1981, with the issue of the M81 Battle Dress Uniform until nearly the present day...
camo fatigues as the primary US uniform scheme in the 1980s, and still retain olive drab as one of the color swatches in the pattern.
As a solid color, it is not as effective for camouflage as multiple-color camo schemes (i.e. US Army Combat Uniform
Army Combat Uniform
The Army Combat Uniform is the current combat uniform worn by the United States Army. It is the successor to the Battle Dress Uniform and Desert Camouflage Uniform worn during the 1980s and 1990s. It features a number of design changes, as well as a different camouflage pattern from its...
, Tigerstripe
Tigerstripe
Tigerstripe is the name of a group of camouflage patterns developed for close-range use in dense jungle during jungle warfare by the South Vietnamese Armed Forces/US Forces. It derives its name from its resemblance to a tiger's stripes...
, MARPAT
MARPAT
MARPAT is a digital camouflage pattern in use with the United States Marine Corps, introduced with the Marine Corps Combat Utility Uniform , which replaced the Camouflage Utility Uniform. The pattern is formed by a number of small rectangular pixels of color...
, Multicam
MultiCam
MultiCam is a single camouflage pattern designed to help the wearer hide in varied environments, seasons, elevations, and light conditions. It is a 7-color, multi-environment camouflage pattern developed by Crye Associates in conjunction with U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center...
, etc.), though it is still used by the U.S. military to color webbing and accessories. The military refers to the color as Olive Green 107, or more commonly OG 107
OG-107
OG-107 utilities were the basic work uniform of all branches of the American Military from 1952 until finally being discontinued in 1989. The designation came from the United States Army's color code Olive Green 107, which was a gray green.-History:...
. There are very few countries still issuing uni-color Olive Drab uniforms, Israel
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
, India
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. With about 1,100,000 soldiers in active service and about 1,150,000 reserve troops, the Indian Army is the world's largest standing volunteer army...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
being the exceptions.
In the American novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
A Separate Peace
A Separate Peace
A Separate Peace is a novel by John Knowles. Based on his earlier short story "Phineas", it was Knowles' first published novel and became his best-known work.-Plot summary:...
, Finny said to Gene, "...and in these times of war, we all see olivine drab, and we all know it is the patriotic color. All others aren't about the war; they aren't patriotic."
The color is currently defined by the FS-595 paint standard.
Camouflage green
Camouflage green is a color which resembles the gray-green color often used by the military and hunters to camouflage themselves. Thus, this color may often be known as military green and is related to hunter green.Dark olive green
Displayed at right is the web color dark olive green.Nature
- Yellow-green alga, also called xanthophytes, is a class of algaeAlgaeAlgae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...
in the Heterokontophyta division. Most live in freshwater, but some are found in marine and soil habitats. They vary from single-celled flagellateFlagellateFlagellates are organisms with one or more whip-like organelles called flagella. Some cells in animals may be flagellate, for instance the spermatozoa of most phyla. Flowering plants do not produce flagellate cells, but ferns, mosses, green algae, some gymnosperms and other closely related plants...
s to simple colonialColony (biology)In biology, a colony reference to several individual organisms of the same species living closely together, usually for mutual benefit, such as stronger defense or the ability to attack bigger prey. Some insects live only in colonies...
and filamentous forms. Unlike other heterokonts, yellow-green algae's chloroplastChloroplastChloroplasts are organelles found in plant cells and other eukaryotic organisms that conduct photosynthesis. Chloroplasts capture light energy to conserve free energy in the form of ATP and reduce NADP to NADPH through a complex set of processes called photosynthesis.Chloroplasts are green...
s do not contain fucoxanthinFucoxanthinFucoxanthin is a xanthophyll, with formula C42H58O6. It is found as an accessory pigment in the chloroplasts of brown algae and most other heterokonts, giving them a brown or olive-green color...
, which is why they have a lighter color.
Chartreuse in popular culture
Alcoholic beverageAlcoholic beverage
An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...
s
- Chartreuse represents green chartreuse liqueurChartreuse (liqueur)Chartreuse is a French liqueur made by the Carthusian Monks since the 1740s. It is composed of distilled alcohol aged with 130 herbal extracts. The liqueur is named after the Monks' Grande Chartreuse monastery, located in the Chartreuse Mountains in the general region of Grenoble in France...
; Chartreuse yellow represents yellow chartreuse liqueur.
Electronics
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
- The early green LEDs are now sometimes called chartreuse to distinguish them from more-modern, deeper-green LEDs.
Film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
- Chartreuse green is the color of the AutobotAutobotAutobot, a faction of sentient robots from the planet Cybertron, are usually the main protagonists in the fictional universe of the Transformers, a collection of various toys, graphic novels, paperback books, cartoons and movies first introduced in 1984. In all but one Transformer story, the...
medic RatchetRatchet (Transformers)Ratchet is the name of several characters in the Transformers universes. According to the original creator of the Transformers names, Bob Budiansky, Ratchet was named after the character of Nurse Ratched from the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The name Ratchet is almost always portrayed as...
in the live actionLive actionIn filmmaking, video production, and other media, the term live action refers to cinematography, videography not produced using animation...
2007 Transformers film. - The 1960 Universal film Chartroose Caboose featured a "bright green" colored train car.
Vexillology
Vexillology
Vexillology is the scholarly study of flags. The word is a synthesis of the Latin word vexillum, meaning 'flag', and the Greek suffix -logy, meaning 'study'. The vexillum was a particular type of flag used by Roman legions during the classical era; its name is a diminutive form of the word velum...
- When BharatpurBharatpur, IndiaBharatpur is a city in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It was founded by Maharaja Suraj Mal in 1733. Located in the Brij region, Bharatpur was once an impregnable, well-planned and well-fortified city, and the capital of Jat kingdom ruled by Sinsinwar Maharajas.The trio of Bharatpur, Deeg and...
was a princely statePrincely stateA Princely State was a nominally sovereign entitity of British rule in India that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule such as suzerainty or paramountcy.-British relationship with the Princely States:India under the British Raj ...
, it was the only political entity ever to have a chartreuse yellow colored flag.
Video games
- The Chartreuse Hall is a hydroponicsHydroponicsHydroponics is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil. Terrestrial plants may be grown with their roots in the mineral nutrient solution only or in an inert medium, such as perlite, gravel, mineral wool, or coconut husk.Researchers discovered in the 18th...
section in the game No One Lives ForeverNo One Lives ForeverThe Operative: No One Lives Forever is a first-person shooter video game with stealth gameplay elements, developed by Monolith Productions and published by Fox Interactive, released for Windows in 2000. The game was also ported later to the PlayStation 2 and Mac OS X...
, in the Low Earth Orbit mission.