Chartreuse (color)
Chartreuse is a color 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.
Etymology
The French word chartreuse means "". The monasteries that the monks of the Carthusian order live in, of which the first one was established in 1082 by Saint Bruno, are called charter houses because they were chartered—and given generous material support—by the Duke of Burgundy known as Philip the Bold when he took over the area in 1378. Philip the Bold's elaborately decorated tomb was initially installed at a Carthusian charterhouse when he died in 1404.Chartreuse (web color)
At right is displayed the web color chartreuse.The term chartreuse is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as: "A shade of colour; a pale apple-green". The dictionary gives a quotation in the British publication Western Daily Press Vol. 7 No. 5 as being the earliest occurrence found in print of the term 'chartreuse' used as the name of a color. However the source does not define or describe the color referred to.
In The Domestic Monthly is written, "The delicate, pale green, with a yellow tinge, entitled 'Chartreuse,' is a rival to the renewed apple green," and, "The new shade of Chartreuse green, from light to dark, is lovely in the large feather fans.... Some of the corded silks have fancy stripes in a combination of colors such as... mousse and Chartreuse, which is the stylish yellow green."
In The Ladies' Home Journal of May 1889, is written, "Chantilly cloaks come shaped like the old-fashioned rotonde, with collar of narrow lace, and are worn over a lining of chartreuse green or jonquil yellow."
In The Millinery Trade Review is written, "From Madame Catlin of Paris, a hat of velvet in moss-green of medium tone, or of strong Chartreuse-green."
In The Mineral Industry is written, "The characteristic twin colors of a few doubly refractive gems will prove of interest... tourmaline green.
In Dry Goods Reporter, it is noted under "Choosing an Easter Hat" — "Chartreuse greens are among the colors hardest of all to combine artistically, and yet with the new popular bluet are charming."
In Pure Products is written, "The following colors can be bought in powder form... chartreuse green".
"Chartreuse Green" is also listed in Plochere Color System.
In a 1956 edition of Billboard, a jukebox is advertised as being available in "Delft blue, cherry red, embered charcoal, chartreuse green, bright sand, canary yellow, atoll coral and night-sky black."
In Color: Universal Language and Dictionary of Names, "Chartreuse Green" is listed under "116. Brilliant Yellow Green".
Chartreuse green 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 :File:RBG color wheel.svg|RGB color wheel. Another name for this color is chartreuse green.
In 1988, Margaret Walch, director of the Color Association of the United States is reported to have said, "The hottest color out there now is an ugly chartreuse green.... It suggests what we don't have: nature, youth, energy, growth."
Chartreuse yellow
The first recorded use of chartreuse for the color that is now called chartreuse yellow in American English was in 1892.In the book Color Standards and Color Nomenclature, "Chartreuse Yellow" is listed and illustrated.
Variations of chartreuse
Nyanza
The color nyanza is displayed at right.The first recorded use of nyanza as a color name in English was in 1892.
Mindaro
Displayed at right is the color mindaro.The first use in English of the color name mindaro was in 2001, when it was formulated as one of the colors on the Xona.com Color List.
Pear
Pear is a desaturated chartreuse yellow color that resembles the color of the exterior surface of Anjou or Bartlett pears.Lemon-lime
Lemon-lime is a fluorescent chartreuse color that refers to a theoretical combination of the two colors of the lemon and lime fruit rinds. Such a name might have been popularized by the advertising of various carbonated soft drinks such as Sprite, 7 Up and Sierra Mist, although all three of these drinks actually appear clear and colorless.Lime
Lime is a color that is sometimes referred to as a representation of the color of the citrus fruit called limes. However, in its original form, it referred to the colour of the samara fruits of the lime or linden tree.The first recorded use of lime green as a color name in English was in 1890.
Green-yellow
Displayed at right is the web color green-yellow, a light tint of chartreuse.Spring bud
Displayed at right is the color spring bud.This was the color that was traditionally called "spring green" before the web color spring green was formulated in 1987.
The first recorded use of spring green as a color name in English was in 1766.
Lawn green
Displayed at right is the web color lawn green, a bright tint of chartreuse.Pistachio
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.
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, shown above. Now, the term "yellow-green" is used to refer to this medium desaturated shade of chartreuse.
The color of goose droppings is known as caca d'oie in French, and is a yellowish-green shade.
Apple green
Displayed at right is the color apple green, a representation of the color of the outer skin of a Granny Smith apple. A darker version of this color has been used for the IRT Lexington Avenue Line since June 1979, when the NYCTA decided to assign line colors to all the routes within the major trunk lines in the Central Business District, plus different colors for services not entering Manhattan. By doing this, they scrapped the 1967 colors that were assigned separately to each service.The first recorded use of apple green as a color name in English was in 1648.
Turtle green
Displayed at right is the color turtle green, a representation of the color of turtles.grazing on sea grass
Avocado
Avocado is a dark yellow-green color that is a representation of the color of the outer surface of an avocado. Avocado, along with other earthy tones like harvest gold and burnt orange, was a common color for consumer goods like automobiles, shag carpets, and household appliances during the 1970s.Olive
Olive is a dark shade of yellow typically seen on green olives. Shades of olive, such as olive drab or OD green, are frequently used for camouflage, or by the military in general. The complementary color of olive is light blue.Kombu green
The color kombu green is displayed at right.The color kombu green is a representation of the color of kombu, edible kelp from the family Laminariaceae widely eaten in East Asia.
The source of this color is the "Pantone Textile Paper eXtended " color list, color #19-0417 TPX—Kombu Green.
Chartreuse in nature
Algae
- Yellow-green algae, also called xanthophytes, are a class of algae in the Heterokontophyta division. Most live in freshwater, but some are found in marine and soil habitats. They vary from single-celled flagellates to simple colonial and filamentous forms. Unlike other heterokonts, the chloroplasts of yellow-green algae do not contain fucoxanthin, which is why they have a lighter color.
In popular culture
Traffic safety
- Chartreuse yellow is used on traffic safety vests to provide increased visibility for employees working near traffic. The chartreuse yellow background material, together with a retro-reflective satisfy the since 1999. ANSI Standards were adopted as an requirement in 2008
Electronics
- The early green LEDs are now sometimes called chartreuse to distinguish them from more modern, deeper-green LEDs.
Film
- The 1960 Universal film Chartroose Caboose featured a "bright green" colored train car.
Firefighting
- Since about 1973, a sort of fluorescent chartreuse green has been adopted as the color of fire engines in parts of the United States and elsewhere. The use of chartreuse fire engines began when New York ophthalmologist Stephen Solomon produced research claiming that sparkling bright lime-green paint would boost the night time visibility of emergency vehicles compared to those painted the traditional fire engine red. The reason for this is the Purkinje effect, i.e., the cones do not function as efficiently in dim light, so red objects appear to be black. In Australia and New Zealand this form of chartreuse yellow is also known as "ACT yellow" as this is the color of the fire engines in the Australian Capital Territory.
Literature
- In 2012, Chelsea Handler began to author a spoof on the popular book series Fifty Shades of Grey called 50 Shades of Chartreuse: This Time It's Personal.
Music
- Jazz and jump blues saxophonist, singer, and bandleader Louis Jordan recorded the song " Chartreuse" in 1950. Composed by J. Leslie McFarland and Billy Moore, Jr., the song is about a girl who dyes her hair "chartreuse." Although she thinks that the color is "mighty cute," the speaker suggests that the change of color is a ridiculous act of rebellion.
- A song on the Homestuck album The Felt is named Chartreuse Rewind, in reference to the color associated with the album, its subject matter, and by extension the traditional color of the felt on a billiards table.
- American blues-rock band ZZ Top recorded a song called "Chartreuse" for their 2012 album La Futura.
- American indie-pop duo Capital Cities recorded a song called "Chartreuse" for their 2013 album In a Tidal Wave of Mystery.
- In C. W. McCall's song "Convoy", one of the vehicles participating in the convoy is a chartreuse VW Microbus, which is assigned by the singer/speaker as an escort to a truck hauling dynamite.
- "Chartreuse" is a song on Ken Nordine's spoken word album Colors.
Vexillology
- When Bharatpur State was a princely state, it was the only political entity ever to have a chartreuse yellow-colored flag.
Video games
- The Chartreuse Hall is a hydroponics section in the game , in the Low Earth Orbit mission.
Wrapping the spectrum into a color wheel