# orange

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈɒɹ.ɪnd͡ʒ/ · frequency rank #2,400

## Definitions
1. An evergreen tree of the genus Citrus such as Citrus sinensis which yields oranges (the fruit).
2. Any round citrus fruit with a yellow-red colour when ripe and a sour-sweet taste; the fruit of the orange tree.
3. Any round citrus fruit with a yellow-red colour when ripe and a sour-sweet taste; the fruit of the orange tree.
4. The colour of a ripe fruit of an orange tree, midway between red and yellow.
5. Various drinks
6. Various drinks:
7. Various drinks:
8. Various drinks:
9. An orange-coloured roundel.

## Etymology
Etymology tree
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Italian melaranciacalq.
Old French Orengeinflu.
▲
Old Occitan auranjainflu.
Old French pomme d'orenge
Old French orenge
Middle French orangebor.
Middle English orenge
English orange
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 color) 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)).
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 color in 1510. In the color sense, largely displaced ġeolurēad, whence yellow-red.

## Easily confused with
- **Osage** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/orange-vs-osage)
- **oranges** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/orange-vs-oranges)
- **Oran** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/oran-vs-orange)
- **orang** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/orang-vs-orange)
- **oracle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/oracle-vs-orange)

## Common misspellings (8)
`oarnge`, `oragne`, `oraneg`, `orangge`, `orannge`, `ornage`, `orrange`, `roange`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/orange