![NCI 2 green olives](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/NCI_2_green_olives.jpg)
Olive is a dark yellowish-green color, like that of unripe or green
olive
The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...
s.
As a color word in the English language, it appears in late
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...
. Shaded toward gray, it becomes olive drab.
Variations
Olivine
![Green sand close up](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Green_sand_close_up.jpg)
Olivine is the typical color of the mineral
olivine
The mineral olivine () is a magnesium iron silicate with the chemical formula . It is a type of nesosilicate or orthosilicate. The primary component of the Earth's upper mantle, it is a common mineral in Earth's subsurface, but weathers quickl ...
.
![Olivine-d06-91a](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Olivine-d06-91a.jpg)
The first recorded use of ''olivine'' as a color name in English was in 1912.
Olive drab
Olive drab is variously described as a "dull olive-green colour" (''Oxford English Dictionary'');
[''Oxford English Dictionary'', 5th Edition, 1982] "a shade of greenish-brown" (''Webster's New World Dictionary''); "a dark gray-green" (''MacMillan English dictionary''); "a grayish olive to dark olive brown or olive gray" (''American Heritage Dictionary''); or "A dull but fairly strong gray-green color" (''Collins English Dictionary''). It was widely used as a camouflage color for uniforms and equipment in the armed forces, particularly by the U.S. Army during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
The first recorded use of ''olive drab'' as a color name in English was in 1892.
Drab is an older color name, from the middle of the 16th century. It refers to a dull light brown color, the color of cloth made from undyed homespun wool. It took its name from the old French word for cloth, ''drap''.
Olive drab was the color of the standard fighting uniform for U.S. soldiers and military vehicles during World War II. The shade used by the U.S. Army at the beginning of the war was officially called ''Olive Drab #3'' (OD3), which was replaced in 1943 by the darker ''Olive Drab #7'' (OD7, hex code #3C341F). This was in turn replaced by the ''Olive Green 107'' or ''
OG-107
The OG-107 was the basic work utility uniform (fatigues) of all branches of the United States Armed Forces from 1952 until its discontinuation in 1989. The designation came from the U.S. Army's coloring code "Olive Green 107" and "Olive Green 50 ...
'' uniform in 1952, which continued as the official combat uniform through the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
until it was replaced as the primary U.S. battle uniform in 1981 by the four-color-camouflage-patterned M81
Battle Dress Uniform
The Battle Dress Uniform (BDU) is a camouflaged combat uniform that was used by the United States Armed Forces as their standard combat uniform from the early 1980s to the mid-2000s. Since then, it has been replaced or supplanted in every br ...
, which retained olive drab as one of the color swatches in the pattern.
As a solid color, it is not as effective for camouflage as multi-color patterns, though it is still used by the U.S. military to color webbing and accessories. The armies of
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
,
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
, and
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
wear solid-color olive drab uniforms.
In the American novel ''
A Separate Peace
''A Separate Peace'' is a coming-of-age novel by John Knowles, published in 1958. Based on his earlier short story "Phineas", published in the May 1956 issue of ''Cosmopolitan'', it was Knowles's first published novel and became his best-know ...
'', Finny says to Gene, "...and in these times of war, we all see olive drab, and we all know it is the patriotic color. All others aren't about the war; they aren't patriotic."
There are many shades and variations of olive drab; one common version is defined by
Federal Standard 595
Federal Standard 595, known as SAE AMS-STD-595 – Colors Used in Government Procurement, formerly FED-STD-595, is a United States Federal Standard for colors, issued by the General Services Administration.
History FED-STD-595, 595A, and 5 ...
in the United States.
File:M1943 Field Jacket.jpg, An olive drab M-1943 field jacket, worn by US soldiers during World War II.
File:Flickr - Israel Defense Forces - Officer Course for Infantry Command.jpg, Olive drab is the uniform color of the Israel Army
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branc ...
.
File:Cuban Soldiers of Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias.jpg, Cuban soldiers in olive drab.
Olive green
Olive green is greener than olive or olive drab but less green than dark olive green. An example is U.S. Army
OG-107
The OG-107 was the basic work utility uniform (fatigues) of all branches of the United States Armed Forces from 1952 until its discontinuation in 1989. The designation came from the U.S. Army's coloring code "Olive Green 107" and "Olive Green 50 ...
:
Pantone 448 C
Pantone 448 C is a colour in the Pantone colour system. Described as a drab dark brown and informally dubbed the "ugliest colour in the world", it was selected in 2012 as the colour for plain tobacco and cigarette packaging in Australia, after ...
, "the ugliest color in the world" commonly used in
plain tobacco packaging
Plain tobacco packaging, also known as generic, neutral, standardised or homogeneous packaging, is packaging of tobacco products, typically cigarettes, without any branding (colours, imagery, corporate logos and trademarks), including only the br ...
, was initially described as a shade of olive green.
Dark olive green
This is the web color dark olive green.
Black olive
![Olives in bowl](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Olives_in_bowl.jpg)
Black olive is a color in the
RAL color matching system. It is designated as
RAL 6015
The following is a list of RAL Classic colours from the RAL colour standard. The visual samples are approximate and informative only.
RAL Classic Yellow and beige
Orange
Red
Violet
Blue
Green
Grey
Brown
White and b ...
.
The color "black olive" is a representation of the color of
black olive
The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' 'M ...
s.
This is one of the colors in the RAL color matching system, a color system widely used in Europe. The RAL color list originated in 1927, and it reached its present form in 1961.
Olive in culture
;Ethnography
* The term
"olive-skinned" is sometimes used to denote shades of medium-toned skin that is darker than the average color for
White people
White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view.
Description of populations as ...
, especially in connection with a Mediterranean ethnicity.
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 ...
*
Khaki
The color khaki (, ) is a light shade of tan with a slight yellowish tinge.
Khaki has been used by many armies around the world for uniforms and equipment, particularly in arid or desert regions, where it provides camouflage relative to sandy ...
, another color common in military uniforms
References
{{Shades of black, Black olive
Quaternary colors
Shades of green
Shades of yellow
Shades of black
Web colors