Maroon (
US/
UK ,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
) is a
brownish crimson color that takes its name from the
French word ''marron'', or
chestnut
The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.
The unrelat ...
. "Marron" is also one of the French translations for "brown".
According to multiple dictionaries, there are variabilities in defining the color maroon. The ''Cambridge English Dictionary'' defines maroon as a dark reddish-purple color while its "American Dictionary" section defines maroon as dark brown-red. This suggests slight perceptual differences in the U.K. versus North America. Lexico online dictionary defines maroon as a brownish-red. Similarly, Dictionary.com defines maroon as a dark brownish-red. The ''
Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
'' describes maroon as "a brownish
crimson
Crimson is a rich, deep red color, inclining to purple.
It originally meant the color of the kermes dye produced from a scale insect, ''Kermes vermilio'', but the name is now sometimes also used as a generic term for slightly bluish-red colo ...
(strong red) or
claret
Bordeaux wine ( oc, vin de Bordèu, french: vin de Bordeaux) is produced in the Bordeaux region of southwest France, around the city of Bordeaux, on the Garonne River. To the north of the city the Dordogne River joins the Garonne forming the ...
(purple color) color," while the Merriam-Webster online dictionary simply defines it as a dark red.
In the
sRGB
sRGB is a standard RGB (red, green, blue) color space that HP and Microsoft created cooperatively in 1996 to use on monitors, printers, and the World Wide Web. It was subsequently standardized by the International Electrotechnical Commission ( ...
color model for
additive color
Additive color or additive mixing is a property of a color model that predicts the appearance of colors made by coincident component lights, i.e. the perceived color can be predicted by summing the numeric representations of the component colo ...
representation, the
web color
Web colors are colors used in Web design, displaying web pages on the World Wide Web, and the methods for describing and specifying those colors. Colors may be specified as an RGB color model, RGB triplet or in hexadecimal format (a ''hex triple ...
called maroon is created by turning down the brightness of pure red to about one half. It is also noted that maroon is the complement of the web color called
teal
alt=American teal duck (male), Green-winged teal (male)
Teal is a greenish-blue colour. Its name comes from that of a bird — the Eurasian teal (''Anas crecca'') — which presents a similarly coloured stripe on its head. The word is ofte ...
.
Etymology
![Chestnut02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Chestnut02.jpg)
''Maroon'' is derived from
French ''marron'' ("
chestnut
The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.
The unrelat ...
"), itself from the
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
''marrone'' that means both
chestnut
The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.
The unrelat ...
and
brown
Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model used ...
(but the color maroon in Italian is ''granata'' and in French is ''grenat''), from the medieval Greek ''maraon''.
The first recorded use of ''maroon'' as a color name in English was in 1789.
History
The use of the colour known as maroon dates to the mid 17th century and was used to reference unruly and misbehaves individuals. It first appeared in 1707 as a word inscribed as a fugitive slave. On this subject the word 'marooning' defined as an act of abandonment in which a male or female slave cannot escape.
The period of the 20th century saw independent states adopt national flags with the use of maroon as its colour symbol, including
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
,
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
and
Qatar
Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...
.
In culture
;Religion
*
Vajrayana Buddhist monks
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedicat ...
, such as the
Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...
, wear maroon robes.
*Maroon, along with golden yellow, is worn in the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
by
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
devotees of the
Black Nazarene
The Black Nazarene ( es, El Nazareno Negro, Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno; fil, Poóng Itím na Nazareno, Hesus Nazareno) is a life-sized image of a dark-skinned, kneeling Jesus Christ carrying the Cross enshrined in the Minor Basilica of the ...
, especially during its procession on 9 January.
;National symbols
* Maroon and white are the colors of the
Flag of Qatar
The national flag of Qatar ( ar, علم قطر) is in the ratio of 11:28. It is maroon with a broad white serrated band (nine white points) on the hoist side. It was adopted shortly before the country declared independence from Britain on 3 Sept ...
.
*
Flag of Phoenix
The flag of Phoenix, Arizona, is the official municipal flag of Phoenix, Arizona. Its current design is a maroon field with a white phoenix emblem in the center. The design is the second in the city's history and has been in place since 1990, re ...
is maroon and white.
* Maroon, gold, teal and orange are the colors of the
Flag of Sri Lanka
The flag of Sri Lanka ( si, ශ්රී ලංකාවේ ජාතික කොඩිය, translit=Śrī Laṃkāvē jāthika kodiya; ta, இலங்கையின் தேசியக்கொடி, translit=Ilankaiyin teciyakkoṭi ...
* The
Flag of Latvia
The national flag of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas karogs) was used by independent Latvia from 1918 until the country was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940. Its use was suppressed during Soviet rule. On 27 February 1990, shortly before the country ...
has sometimes been called maroon and white, although the officially declared colors were red and white, and in 2009 were changed to
carmine
Carmine ()also called cochineal (when it is extracted from the cochineal insect), cochineal extract, crimson lake, or carmine lake is a pigment of a bright-red color obtained from the aluminium complex derived from carminic acid. Specific code n ...
and white.
* Maroon was named as the
official color of the state of
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, in November 2003. While the declared shade of maroon in sRGB is R=115, G=24, B=44, Queenslanders display the spirit of the state by wearing all shades of maroon at sporting and cultural events.
;Politics
* Maroon is the color of the Dutch far-right political party
Forum for Democracy
Forum for Democracy ( nl, Forum voor Democratie, FvD) is a right-wing populist Eurosceptic political party in the Netherlands that was founded as a think tank by Thierry Baudet and Henk Otten in 2016. The party first participated in elections i ...
.
;Military
* The distinctive
maroon beret
The maroon beret in a military configuration has been an international symbol of airborne forces since the Second World War. It was first officially introduced by the British Army in 1942, at the direction of Major-General Frederick "Boy" B ...
has been worn by many airborne forces around the world since 1942. It is sometimes referred to as the "red beret."
* Historically maroon was the distinguishing color of the
Caçadores
The Caçadores (hunters) were the elite light infantry troops of the Portuguese Army, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Units of ''Caçadores'' – with features somewhat different from the original ones – continued to exist in the P ...
(rifle) regiments of the Portuguese Army.
;Business
* Maroon is the signature color of the Japanese private rail company,
Hankyu Railway
, trading as , is a Japanese private railway company that provides commuter and interurban service to the northern Kansai region and is one of the flagship properties of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc., in turn part of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group ...
, decided by a vote of women customers in 1923. In the 1990s, Hankyu planned an alternative color as it was developing new vehicles. That plan was called off following opposition by local residents
;Music
* The
Famous Maroon Band
The Famous Maroon Band is the name of the marching band at Mississippi State University in Starkville, Mississippi. The Famous Maroon Band plays at all Mississippi State home football games and sends at least a pep band to a majority of the footb ...
*
Maroon 5
Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. It currently consists of lead vocalist Adam Levine, keyboardist and rhythm guitarist Jesse Carmichael, lead guitarist James Valentine (musician), James Valentine, drummer Matt ...
* Maroon by
Taylor Swift
Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bor ...
;School colors
Many universities, colleges, high schools and other educational institutions have maroon as one of their ''school colors''. Popular combinations include maroon and white, maroon and grey, maroon and gold, and maroon and blue.
* Maroon and White are the official school colors of
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...
.
* Maroon and Gold are the official school colors of
Texas State University
Texas State University is a public research university in San Marcos, Texas. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has grown to the second largest university in the Greater Austin metropolitan area and the fifth largest university ...
* Maroon and Gold are the official school colors of
Boston College
Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...
.
* Maroon and Gold are the official school colors of the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...
.
* Maroon and Gold are the official school colors of the
Central Michigan University
Central Michigan University (CMU) is a public research university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Established in 1892 as the Central Michigan Normal School and Business Institute, the private normal school became a state institution and renamed Cen ...
.
* Maroon and Gold are the official school colors of
Shimer College
Shimer Great Books School (pronounced ) is a Classic_book#University_programs, Great Books college that is part of North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. Prior to 2017, Shimer was an independent, accredited college on the south side of ...
, representing
Mount Carroll Seminary
The Mount Carroll Seminary was the name of Shimer College from 1853 to 1896. The Seminary was located in Mount Carroll, Illinois, in the United States. A pioneering institution in its time and place, the Mount Carroll Seminary served as a center ...
.
* Maroon is the official school color of the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
. The school also employs light and dark gray in its official primary color palette.
* Maroon and White are the official school colors of
Lower Merion High School
Lower Merion High School is a public high school in Ardmore, a community in Philadelphia's Main Line suburbs. It is one of two high schools in the Lower Merion School District; the other one is Harriton High School. Lower Merion serves both Lowe ...
.
* Maroon and White are the official school colors of
Mississippi State University
Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Unive ...
and the name of the university's alma mater.
* Maroon and White are the official school colors of
Colgate University
Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. The college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and operated under that name until 1823, when it was renamed Hamilton Theologi ...
.
* Maroon and White are the official school colors of
Missouri State University
Missouri State University (MSU or MO State), formerly Southwest Missouri State University, is a public university in Springfield, Missouri. Founded in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School, it is the state's second largest university by enr ...
.
* Maroon and White are the official school colors of
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Southern Illinois University (SIU or SIUC) is a public research university in Carbondale, Illinois. Founded in 1869, SIU is the oldest and flagship campus of the Southern Illinois University system. The university enrolls students from all 50 s ...
.
* Maroon and Gold are the official school colors of
Arizona State University
Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...
and the name of the university's fight song.
* Maroon and Orange are the official school colors of
Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...
.
* Maroon and Blue are the official colors of
Port Rex Technical High School in South Africa.
* Maroon and Forest Green are the primary and complementary institutional colors of the
University of the Philippines System
The University of the Philippines (UP; fil, Pamantasan ng Pilipinas Unibersidad ng Pilipinas) is a state university system in the Philippines. It is the country's national university, as mandated by Republic Act No. 9500 (UP Charter of 2008) ...
.
* Maroon and Gold are the school colors of the
University of Perpetual Help System DALTA in the Philippines.
;Sports
Sports teams often use maroon as one of their identifying colors, as a result, many have received the nickname "Maroons."
* The University of
Chicago Maroons
The Chicago Maroons are the intercollegiate sports teams of the University of Chicago. They are named after the color maroon. Team colors are maroon and gray, and the Phoenix is their mascot. They now compete in the NCAA Division III, mostly as ...
have used the nickname (and the corresponding color) since a vote came at a meeting of students and faculty on May 5, 1894.
* The University of the Philippines
Fighting Maroons
The UP Fighting Maroons are the collegiate varsity teams of the University of the Philippines, primarily off Diliman, which play in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), the premiere sports league in the country.
The Fig ...
competes in the
University Athletic Association of the Philippines
The University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), established in 1938, is an athletic association of eight Metro Manila universities in the Philippines. The eight-member schools are Adamson University (AdU), Ateneo de Manila Univers ...
and is based in their
Diliman Campus. The moniker has been associated with their teams since the 1930s, except for a brief period in the 1960s when they were known as the Parrots.
* The
University of Perpetual Help Altas, playing in the
National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines)
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)Pronounced "N-C-A-A". is an athletics association of ten private colleges and universities in Metro Manila, Philippines. Established in 1924, it is the oldest collegiate athletic association ...
use the color as their primary uniform, derived from their school colors .
*
Heart of Midlothian F.C.
Heart of Midlothian Football Club, commonly known as Hearts, is a professional football club in Edinburgh, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Professional Football League. Hearts, the oldest and most successful football club in the S ...
have played in predominantly maroon colours since 1877, although they had maroon badge and trimmings in their first kit from their formation in 1874.
* Maroons was the official nickname of the athletic teams representing Mississippi State College, now Mississippi State University from 1932 until 1961 when it was officially changed to the Bulldogs. Bulldogs had been used as an unofficial nickname as far back as 1905.
* Maroons is also the common nickname for the
Queensland Rugby League team
The Queensland rugby league team represents the Australian state of Queensland in rugby league football. Nicknamed the "Maroons" after the colour of their jersey, they play three times a year against arch-rivals New South Wales rugby league team ...
when it plays against the Blues (the New South Welshmen) in an annual competition of three games known as the
State of Origin series
The State of Origin series is an annual best-of-three rugby league series between two Australian state representative sides, the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons.
Referred to as “Australian sport's greatest rivalry”, the ...
in Australia.
*
West Indies cricket team
The West Indies cricket team, nicknamed the Windies, is a multi-national men's cricket team representing the mainly Commonwealth Caribbean, English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean region and administered by Cricket West I ...
wears all maroon clothing in
limited-overs cricket
Limited overs cricket, also known as one-day cricket or white ball cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed in one day. There are a number of formats, including List A cricket (8-hour games), Twenty ...
whilst in
Test cricket
Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last fo ...
, they wear maroon
cricket cap
A cricket cap is a type of soft cap, often made from felt, that is a traditional form of headwear for players of the game of cricket, regardless of age or gender. It is usually a tight-fitting skullcap, usually made of six or eight sections, w ...
s.
* In
pool
Pool may refer to:
Water pool
* Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming
* Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings
* Tide pool, a rocky pool ...
, the color of the 7 and 15
billiard ball
A billiard ball is a small, hard ball used in cue sports, such as carom billiards, pool, and snooker. The number, type, diameter, color, and pattern of the balls differ depending upon the specific game being played. Various particular ball p ...
s are traditionally maroon.
Commercial variations of maroon
Maroon (Crayola)
The color designated as ''maroon'' in
Crayola
Crayola LLC, formerly the Binney & Smith Company, is an American manufacturing company specializing in art supplies. It is known for its brand ''Crayola'' and best known for its crayons. The company is headquartered in Forks Township, Pennsylva ...
crayons since 1949 is a bright medium shade of maroon halfway between brown and
rose
A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...
.
Rich maroon (maroon (X11))
Displayed in the adjacent table is the color rich maroon, i.e. ''maroon'' as defined in the
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 was traditionally shipped with every X11 installation, hence the name, and is usually located in ''<X ...
, which is much brighter and more toned toward
rose
A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...
than the HTML/CSS maroon shown above.
See the chart
Color name clashes in the X11 color names article to see those colors that are different in HTML/CSS and X11.
Dark red
Displayed in the adjacent table is the
web color
Web colors are colors used in Web design, displaying web pages on the World Wide Web, and the methods for describing and specifying those colors. Colors may be specified as an RGB color model, RGB triplet or in hexadecimal format (a ''hex triple ...
dark red.
UP maroon
UP Maroon is the shade used by the
University of the Philippines
The University of the Philippines (UP; fil, Pamantasan ng Pilipinas Unibersidad ng Pilipinas) is a state university system in the Philippines. It is the country's national university, as mandated by Republic Act No. 9500 (UP Charter of 200 ...
as its primary color.
See also
*
List of colors
These are the lists of colors;
* List of colors: A–F
* List of colors: G–M
* List of colors: N–Z
* List of colors (compact)
* List of colors by shade
* List of color palettes
* List of Crayola crayon colors
* List of RAL colors
* List ...
References
External links
*
*
{{Color topics
Shades of brown
Shades of red
Web colors