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Chestnut (color)
Encyclopedia
Chestnut, also known as Indian red, is a color, a medium brown
ish shade of red
, and is named after the nut
of the chestnut
tree
.
As Indian red, it is named after the red laterite
soil found in India
. It is thus an earth tone
as well as a red
. It is composed of naturally occurring iron oxide
s. Other shades of iron oxides include Venetian Red
and English Red. It is used as an adjective in the names of several birds to describe their plumage.
of the Chestnut
tree.
The first recorded use of chestnut as a color term in English
was in 1555.
The name Indian red derives from the red laterite
soil found in India
, which is composed of naturally occurring iron oxide
s. The first recorded use of Indian red as a color term in English
was in 1792.
crayon
s. This color was also produced in a special limited edition in which it was called Vermont maple syrup.
At the request of educators worried that children (mistakenly) believed the name represented the skin color
of Native Americans
, Crayola changed the name of their crayon color Indian Red to Chestnut in 1999. The actual skin color of pure-blooded Native Americans is closest to the color copper
.
Brown
Brown is a color term, denoting a range of composite colors produced by a mixture of orange, red, rose, or yellow with black or gray. The term is from Old English brún, in origin for any dusky or dark shade of color....
ish shade of red
Red
Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked eye...
, and is named after the 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...
of the chestnut
Chestnut
Chestnut , some species called chinkapin or chinquapin, is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.-Species:The chestnut belongs to the...
tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
.
As Indian red, it is named after the red laterite
Laterite
Laterites are soil types rich in iron and aluminium, formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are rusty-red because of iron oxides. They develop by intensive and long-lasting weathering of the underlying parent rock...
soil found in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. It is thus an earth tone
Earth tone
Earth tone is a color scheme that draws from a color palette of browns, tans, greys, greens, oranges, whites, and some reds. The colors in an earth tone scheme are muted and flat in an emulation of the natural colors found in soil, moss, trees and rocks. Many earth tones originate from clay earth...
as well as a red
Red
Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked eye...
. It is composed of naturally occurring iron oxide
Iron oxide
Iron oxides are chemical compounds composed of iron and oxygen. All together, there are sixteen known iron oxides and oxyhydroxides.Iron oxides and oxide-hydroxides are widespread in nature, play an important role in many geological and biological processes, and are widely utilized by humans, e.g.,...
s. Other shades of iron oxides include Venetian Red
Venetian red
Venetian red is a light and warm pigment that is a darker shade of scarlet, derived from nearly pure ferric oxide of the hematite type. Modern versions are frequently made with synthetic red iron oxide.-Venetian red:...
and English Red. It is used as an adjective in the names of several birds to describe their plumage.
Chestnut
Displayed at right is the color chestnut, also known as the web color Indian red.Etymology
The name Chestnut derives from the color of the nutNut (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...
of the Chestnut
Chestnut
Chestnut , some species called chinkapin or chinquapin, is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.-Species:The chestnut belongs to the...
tree.
The first recorded use of chestnut as a color term in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
was in 1555.
The name Indian red derives from the red laterite
Laterite
Laterites are soil types rich in iron and aluminium, formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are rusty-red because of iron oxides. They develop by intensive and long-lasting weathering of the underlying parent rock...
soil found in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, which is composed of naturally occurring iron oxide
Iron oxide
Iron oxides are chemical compounds composed of iron and oxygen. All together, there are sixteen known iron oxides and oxyhydroxides.Iron oxides and oxide-hydroxides are widespread in nature, play an important role in many geological and biological processes, and are widely utilized by humans, e.g.,...
s. The first recorded use of Indian red as a color term in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
was in 1792.
Chestnut (crayola)
Displayed at right is the color called chestnut in CrayolaCrayola
Crayola is a brand of artists' supplies manufactured by Crayola LLC, which was founded in 1885 as Binney & Smith. It is best known for its crayons...
crayon
Crayon
A crayon is a stick of colored wax, charcoal, chalk, or other materials used for writing, coloring, drawing, and other methods of illustration. A crayon made of oiled chalk is called an oil pastel; when made of pigment with a dry binder, it is simply a pastel; both are popular media for color...
s. This color was also produced in a special limited edition in which it was called Vermont maple syrup.
At the request of educators worried that children (mistakenly) believed the name represented the skin color
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...
of Native Americans
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
, Crayola changed the name of their crayon color Indian Red to Chestnut in 1999. The actual skin color of pure-blooded Native Americans is closest to the color copper
Copper (color)
Copper is a reddish brown color that resembles the metal copper.At right is displayed the color copper.The first recorded use of copper as a color name in English was in 1594.-Pale copper:...
.
See also
- List of colors
- Chestnut (coat)Chestnut (coat)Chestnut is a hair coat color of horses consisting of a reddish-to-brown coat with a mane and tail the same or lighter in color than the coat. Genetically and visually, chestnut is characterized by the absolute absence of true black hairs...
—Chestnut-coated horseHorseThe horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
s - Chestnut hairChestnut hairChestnut hair is a hair color which is a reddish shade of brown hair. In contrast to auburn hair, the reddish shade of chestnut is darker. The chemical pigments that cause the coloration of chestnut hair are frequently brown eumelanin with stronger levels of pheomelanin....