Color or Fruit? The Unlikely Etymology of “Orange”
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Submission timeline
2007–2026One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.
First comments on top threads
HN comment orderOther interesting rebracketing/juncture loss: an napron => an apron a nauger => an auger a nadder => an adder And there's probably a bunch more for future centuries [1]. [1] https://eggcorns.lascribe.net/
Orange isn't unique. Pink and violet are derived via the same process. I'm always amused by reports on languages with limited color terms because their speakers can always fall back on "color of foo" to describe colors without a dedicated word.
twinge, fringe, flange
The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.
- Breakout years
- 2
- Total points
- 213
- Total comments
- 200
100+ points or 50+ comments
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
Every submission
| Date | Title as submitted | By | Points | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-07-27 | Color or Fruit? The Unlikely Etymology of “Orange”First breakout · Best thread | skadamou | 116 | 78 |
| 2021-01-19 | Color or Fruit? On the Unlikely Etymology of “Orange” (2018)Latest 20+ point return | mattowen_uk | 94 | 121 |
| 2024-05-15 | Color or fruit? On the unlikely etymology of "orange" | fanf2 | 3 | 1 |