Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the
visible spectrum of light, next to
orange and opposite
violet
Violet may refer to:
Common meanings
* Violet (color), a spectral color with wavelengths shorter than blue
* One of a list of plants known as violet, particularly:
** ''Viola'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants
Places United States
* Viol ...
. It has a
dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740
nanometre
330px, Different lengths as in respect to the molecular scale.
The nanometre (international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: nm) or nanometer (American and British English spelling differences#-re ...
s.
It is a primary color in the
RGB color model
The RGB color model is an additive color model in which the red, green and blue primary colors of light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three additiv ...
and a secondary color (made from magenta and yellow) in the
CMYK color model, and is the
complementary color of
cyan
Cyan () is the color between green and blue on the visible spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a predominant wavelength between 490 and 520 nm, between the wavelengths of green and blue.
In the subtractive color system, or CMYK color ...
. Reds range from the brilliant
yellow-tinged
scarlet and
vermillion to bluish-red
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 ...
, and vary in shade from the pale red
pink to the dark red
burgundy
Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...
.
Red pigment made from
ochre
Ochre ( ; , ), or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colours produced ...
was one of the first colors used in
prehistoric art. The
Ancient Egyptians and
Mayans colored their faces red in ceremonies;
Roman generals had their bodies colored red to celebrate victories. It was also an important color in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, where it was used to color early pottery and later the gates and walls of palaces.
In the
Renaissance, the brilliant red costumes for the nobility and wealthy were dyed with
kermes and
cochineal. The 19th century brought the introduction of the first synthetic red dyes, which replaced the traditional dyes. Red became a symbolic color of
communism and
socialism;
Soviet Russia adopted a red flag following the
Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, until the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. Communist China adopted the red flag following the
Chinese Revolution of 1949
The Chinese Communist Revolution, officially known as the Chinese People's War of Liberation in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and also known as the National Protection War against the Communist Rebellion in the Republic of China (R ...
. It was adopted by North
Vietnam in 1954, and by all of Vietnam in 1975.
Since red is the color of
blood, it has historically been associated with sacrifice, danger, and courage. Modern surveys in
Europe and the
United States show red is also the color most commonly associated with heat, activity, passion, sexuality, anger, love, and joy. In China,
India, and many other Asian countries it is the color symbolizing happiness and good fortune.
Shades and variations
Varieties of the color red may differ in
hue,
chroma (also called saturation, intensity, or colorfulness), or
lightness
Lightness is a visual perception of the luminance (L) of an object. It is often judged relative to a similarly lit object. In colorimetry and color appearance models, lightness is a prediction of how an illuminated color will appear to a stan ...
(or value, tone, or
brightness), or in two or three of these qualities. Variations in value are also called
tints and shades, a tint being a red or other hue mixed with white, a shade being mixed with black. Four examples are shown below.
File:Cardinal.jpg, The cardinal
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...
takes its name from the color worn by Catholic cardinals.
File:Cherry blossoms in the Tsutsujigaoka Park.jpg, Pink is a pale shade of red. Cherry blossoms in the Tsutsujigaoka Park, Sendai
is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, desig ...
, Miyagi Miyagi may refer to:
Places
* Miyagi Prefecture, one of the 47 major divisions of Japan
* Miyagi, Gunma, a village in Japan, merged into Maebashi in 2004
*Miyagi District, Miyagi, a district in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan
Other uses
* Miyagi (surna ...
, Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
File:Red tikka powder.jpg, Vermilion is similar to scarlet, but slightly more orange. This is sindoor, a red cosmetic powder used in India; some Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
women put a stripe of sindoor in their hair to show they are married.
File:Ruby gem.JPG, Ruby is the color of a cut and polished ruby gemstone.
In science and nature
Seeing red
The human eye sees red when it looks at light with a wavelength between approximately 625 and 740
nanometers.
It is a primary color in the
RGB color model
The RGB color model is an additive color model in which the red, green and blue primary colors of light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three additiv ...
and the light just past this range is called infrared, or below red, and cannot be seen by human eyes, although it can be sensed as heat. In the language of optics, red is the color evoked by light that stimulates neither the S or the M (short and medium wavelength) cone cells of the retina, combined with a fading stimulation of the L (long-wavelength) cone cells.
Primates can distinguish the full range of the colors of the spectrum visible to humans, but many kinds of mammals, such as dogs and cattle, have
dichromacy, which means they can see blues and yellows, but cannot distinguish red and green (both are seen as gray). Bulls, for instance, cannot see the red color of the cape of a bullfighter, but they are agitated by its movement.
(See
color vision
Color vision, a feature of visual perception, is an ability to perceive differences between light composed of different wavelengths (i.e., different spectral power distributions) independently of light intensity. Color perception is a part of ...
).
One theory for why primates developed sensitivity to red is that it allowed ripe fruit to be distinguished from unripe fruit and inedible vegetation. This may have driven further adaptations by species taking advantage of this new ability, such as the emergence of red faces.
Red light is used to help adapt
night vision
Night vision is the ability to see in low-light conditions, either naturally with scotopic vision or through a night-vision device. Night vision requires both sufficient spectral range and sufficient intensity range. Humans have poor night vi ...
in low-light or night time, as the
rod cell
Rod cells are photoreceptor cells in the retina of the eye that can function in lower light better than the other type of visual photoreceptor, cone cells. Rods are usually found concentrated at the outer edges of the retina and are used in per ...
s in the human eye are not sensitive to red.
In color theory and on a computer screen
On the
color wheel long used by painters, and in traditional color theory, red is one of the three
primary colors, along with blue and yellow. Painters in the Renaissance mixed red and blue to make violet:
Cennino Cennini, in his 15th-century manual on painting, wrote, "If you want to make a lovely violet colour, take fine lac
ed lake
Ed, ed or ED may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Ed'' (film), a 1996 film starring Matt LeBlanc
* Ed (''Fullmetal Alchemist'') or Edward Elric, a character in ''Fullmetal Alchemist'' media
* ''Ed'' (TV series), a TV series that ran fro ...
ultramarine blue (the same amount of the one as of the other) with a binder"; he noted that it could also be made by mixing blue
indigo and red
hematite
Hematite (), also spelled as haematite, is a common iron oxide compound with the formula, Fe2O3 and is widely found in rocks and soils. Hematite crystals belong to the rhombohedral lattice system which is designated the alpha polymorph of . ...
.
In modern color theory, also known as the
RGB color model
The RGB color model is an additive color model in which the red, green and blue primary colors of light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three additiv ...
, red, green and blue are
additive primary colors. Red, green and blue light combined makes white light, and these three colors, combined in different mixtures, can produce nearly any other color. This principle is used to generate colors on such as computer monitors and televisions. For example, magenta on a computer screen is made by a similar formula to that used by Cennino Cennini in the Renaissance to make violet, but using
additive colors and light instead of pigment: it is created by combining red and blue light at equal intensity on a black screen. Violet is made on a computer screen in a similar way, but with a greater amount of blue light and less red light.
(See
Web colors and
RGB color model
The RGB color model is an additive color model in which the red, green and blue primary colors of light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three additiv ...
)
File:Boutet 1708 color circles.jpg, In a traditional color wheel from 1708, red, yellow and blue are primary colors. Red and yellow make orange; red and blue make violet.
File:RGB illumination.jpg, In modern color theory, red, green and blue are the additive primary colors, and together they make white. A combination of red, green and blue light in varying proportions makes all the colors on your computer screen and television screen.
File:RGB pixels.jpg, Tiny Red, green and blue sub-pixel
In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device.
In most digital display devices, pixels are the smal ...
s (enlarged on left side of image) create the colors you see on your computer screen and TV.
Color of sunset
As a ray of white sunlight travels through the atmosphere to the eye, some of the colors are scattered out of the beam by air molecules and
airborne particles due to
Rayleigh scattering, changing the final color of the beam that is seen. Colors with a shorter wavelength, such as blue and green, scatter more strongly, and are removed from the light that finally reaches the eye.
At
sunrise and
sunset
Sunset, also known as sundown, is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon due to Earth's rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth (except the North and South poles), the equinox Sun sets due west at the moment of both the spring ...
, when the path of the sunlight through the atmosphere to the eye is longest, the blue and green components are removed almost completely, leaving the longer wavelength orange and red light. The remaining reddened sunlight can also be scattered by cloud droplets and other relatively large particles, which give the sky above the horizon its red glow.
Lasers
Lasers emitting in the red region of the spectrum have been available since the invention of the
ruby laser in 1960. In 1962 the red
helium–neon laser was invented, and these two types of lasers were widely used in many scientific applications including
holography, and in education. Red helium–neon lasers were used commercially in
LaserDisc
The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...
players. The use of red
laser diodes became widespread with the commercial success of modern
DVD players, which use a 660 nm laser diode technology. Today, red and red-orange laser diodes are widely available to the public in the form of extremely inexpensive
laser pointers. Portable, high-powered versions are also available for various applications.
More recently, 671 nm diode-pumped solid state (
DPSS) lasers have been introduced to the market for all-DPSS laser display systems,
particle image velocimetry,
Raman spectroscopy
Raman spectroscopy () (named after Indian physicist C. V. Raman) is a spectroscopic technique typically used to determine vibrational modes of molecules, although rotational and other low-frequency modes of systems may also be observed. Raman sp ...
, and holography.
Red's wavelength has been an important factor in laser technologies; red lasers, used in early
compact disc technologies, are being replaced by blue lasers, as red's longer wavelength causes the laser's recordings to take up more space on the disc than would blue-laser recordings.
Astronomy
*
Mars is called the Red Planet because of the reddish color imparted to its surface by the abundant
iron oxide
Iron oxides are chemical compounds composed of iron and oxygen. Several iron oxides are recognized. All are black magnetic solids. Often they are non-stoichiometric. Oxyhydroxides are a related class of compounds, perhaps the best known of whic ...
present there.
* Astronomical objects that are moving away from the observer exhibit a Doppler
red shift
In physics, a redshift is an increase in the wavelength, and corresponding decrease in the frequency and photon energy, of electromagnetic radiation (such as light). The opposite change, a decrease in wavelength and simultaneous increase in fr ...
.
*
Jupiter's surface displays a
Great Red Spot
The Great Red Spot is a persistent high-pressure region in the atmosphere of Jupiter, producing an anticyclonic storm that is the largest in the Solar System. Located 22 degrees south of Jupiter's equator, it produces wind-speeds up to 432 ...
caused by an oval-shaped mega storm south of the planet's
equator
The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can als ...
.
*
Red giant
A red giant is a luminous giant star of low or intermediate mass (roughly 0.3–8 solar masses ()) in a late phase of stellar evolution. The outer atmosphere is inflated and tenuous, making the radius large and the surface temperature around or ...
s are stars that have exhausted the supply of
hydrogen in their cores and switched to
thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen in a shell that surrounds its core. They have radii tens to hundreds of times larger than that of the
Sun. However, their outer envelope is much lower in temperature, giving them an orange hue. Despite the lower energy density of their envelope, red giants are many times more luminous than the Sun due to their large size.
*
Red supergiants like
Antares,
Betelgeuse
Betelgeuse is a red supergiant of spectral type M1-2 and one of the largest stars visible to the naked eye. It is usually the tenth-brightest star in the night sky and, after Rigel, the second-brightest in the constellation of Orion ...
,
VY Canis Majoris and
UY Scuti, one of the
biggest stars in the
Universe, are the biggest variety of red giants. They are huge in size, with radii 200 to 2600 times greater than our Sun, but relatively cool in temperature (3000–4500 K), causing their distinct red tint. Because they are shrinking rapidly in size, they are surrounded by an envelope or skin much bigger than the star itself. The envelope of Betelgeuse is 250 times bigger than the star inside.
* A
red dwarf
''Red Dwarf'' is a British science fiction comedy franchise created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, which primarily consists of a television sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999, and on Dave since 2009, gaining a cult following. T ...
is a small and relatively
cool
Cool commonly refers to:
* Cool, a moderately low temperature
* Cool (aesthetic), an aesthetic of attitude, behavior, and style
Cool or COOL may also refer to:
Economics
* Country of origin labelling
* mCOOL - US consumer legislation to enforc ...
star
A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...
, which has a mass of less than half that of the
Sun and a surface temperature of less than 4,000
K. Red dwarfs are by far the most common type of star in the Galaxy, but due to their low luminosity, from Earth, none are visible to the naked eye.
*
Interstellar reddening is caused by the extinction of radiation by dust and gas
Mars atmosphere 2.jpg, Mars appears to be red because of iron oxide
Iron oxides are chemical compounds composed of iron and oxygen. Several iron oxides are recognized. All are black magnetic solids. Often they are non-stoichiometric. Oxyhydroxides are a related class of compounds, perhaps the best known of whic ...
on its surface.
Mira 1997.jpg, Mira, a red giant
A red giant is a luminous giant star of low or intermediate mass (roughly 0.3–8 solar masses ()) in a late phase of stellar evolution. The outer atmosphere is inflated and tenuous, making the radius large and the surface temperature around or ...
File:RedDwarfNASA.jpg, Artist's impression of a red dwarf
''Red Dwarf'' is a British science fiction comedy franchise created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, which primarily consists of a television sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999, and on Dave since 2009, gaining a cult following. T ...
, a small, relatively cool star that appears red due to its temperature
Pigments and dyes
Roussillon sentier des ocres2.JPG, Red ochre
Ochre ( ; , ), or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colours produced ...
cliffs near Roussillon
Roussillon ( , , ; ca, Rosselló ; oc, Rosselhon ) is a historical province of France that largely corresponded to the County of Roussillon and part of the County of Cerdagne of the former Principality of Catalonia. It is part of the reg ...
in France. Red ochre is composed of clay tinted with hematite. Ochre was the first pigment used by man in prehistoric cave paintings.
Vermillon pigment.jpg, Vermilion pigment, made from cinnabar. This was the pigment used in the murals of Pompeii
Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...
and to color Chinese lacquerware beginning in the Song dynasty.
Rubia tinctorum - Köhler–s Medizinal-Pflanzen-123.jpg, Despite its yellow greenish flower, the roots of the ''Rubia tinctorum
''Rubia tinctorum'', the rose madder or common madder or dyer's madder, is a herbaceous perennial plant species belonging to the Galium, bedstraw and Coffea, coffee family Rubiaceae.
Description
The common madder can grow up to 1.5 m in height ...
'', or madder plant, produced the most common red dye used from ancient times until the 19th century.
Red lead.jpg, Red lead, also known as minium
''Minium'' is a genus of thalloid alga
Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. I ...
, has been used since the time of the ancient Greeks. Chemically it is known as lead tetroxide
Lead(II,IV) oxide, also called red lead or minium, is the inorganic compound with the formula Pb3O4. A bright red or orange solid, it is used as pigment, in the manufacture of batteries, and rustproof primer paints. It is an example of a mixed ...
. The Romans prepared it by the roasting of lead white pigment. It was commonly used in the Middle Ages for the headings and decoration of illuminated manuscripts.
Alizarin-sample.jpg, Alizarin was the first synthetic red dye, created by German chemists in 1868. It duplicated the colorant in the madder plant, but was cheaper and longer lasting. After its introduction, the production of natural dyes from the madder plant virtually ceased.
Food coloring
The most common synthetic food coloring today is
Allura Red AC
Allura Red AC is a red azo dye that goes by several names, including FD&C Red 40. It is used as a food dye and has the E number E129.
It is usually supplied as its red sodium salt, but can also be used as the calcium and potassium salts. These s ...
, a red
azo dye
Azo dyes are organic compounds bearing the functional group R−N=N−R′, in which R and R′ are usually aryl and substituted aryl groups. They are a commercially important family of azo compounds, i.e. compounds containing the C-N=N ...
that goes by several names including: Allura Red, Food Red 17, C.I. 16035, FD&C Red 40,
It was originally manufactured from coal tar, but now is mostly made from petroleum.
In Europe, Allura Red AC is not recommended for consumption by children. It is banned in Denmark, Belgium, France and Switzerland, and was also banned in Sweden until the country joined the European Union in 1994. The
European Union approves Allura Red AC as a food colorant, but EU countries' local laws banning food colorants are preserved.
In the United States, Allura Red AC is approved by the
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in
cosmetics,
drug
A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via insuffla ...
s, and food. It is used in some tattoo inks and is used in many products, such as
soft drink
A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink that usually contains water (often carbonated), a sweetener, and a natural and/or artificial flavoring. The sweetener may be a sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, a su ...
s, children's medications, and
cotton candy. On June 30, 2010, the
Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) called for the FDA to ban Red 40.
Because of public concerns about possible health risks associated with synthetic dyes, many companies have switched to using natural pigments such as
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 ...
, made from crushing the tiny female
cochineal insect. This insect, originating in Mexico and Central America, was used to make the brilliant
scarlet dyes of the European Renaissance.
Autumn leaves
The red of autumn leaves is produced by pigments called
anthocyanin
Anthocyanins (), also called anthocyans, are water-soluble vacuolar pigments that, depending on their pH, may appear red, purple, blue, or black. In 1835, the German pharmacist Ludwig Clamor Marquart gave the name Anthokyan to a chemical compo ...
s. They are not present in the leaf throughout the growing season, but are actively produced towards the end of summer.
They develop in late summer in the
sap of the cells of the leaf, and this development is the result of complex interactions of many influences—both inside and outside the plant. Their formation depends on the breakdown of sugars in the presence of bright light as the level of
phosphate in the leaf is reduced.
During the summer growing season, phosphate is at a high level. It has a vital role in the breakdown of the
sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...
s manufactured by chlorophyll. But in the fall, phosphate, along with the other chemicals and nutrients, moves out of the leaf into the
stem
Stem or STEM may refer to:
Plant structures
* Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang
* Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure
* Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...
of the plant. When this happens, the sugar-breakdown process changes, leading to the production of anthocyanin pigments. The brighter the light during this period, the greater the production of anthocyanins and the more brilliant the resulting color display. When the days of autumn are bright and cool, and the nights are chilly but not freezing, the brightest colorations usually develop.
Anthocyanins temporarily color the edges of some of the very young
leaves
A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...
as they unfold from the
buds in early spring. They also give the familiar color to such common fruits as
cranberries,
red apples,
blueberries
Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section ''Cyanococcus'' within the genus ''Vaccinium''. ''Vaccinium'' also includes cranberries, bi ...
,
cherries
A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit).
Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet ''Prunus avium'' and the sour ''Prunus cerasus''. The nam ...
,
raspberries, and
plum
A plum is a fruit of some species in ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are called prunes.
History
Plums may have been one of the first fruits domesticated by humans. Three of the most abundantly cultivated species are not found i ...
s.
Anthocyanins are present in about 10% of tree species in temperate regions, although in certain areas—a
famous example being New England—up to 70% of tree species may produce the pigment.
In autumn forests they appear vivid in the
maples,
oaks,
sourwood
''Oxydendrum arboreum'', the sourwood or sorrel tree, is the sole species in the genus ''Oxydendrum'', in the family Ericaceae. It is native to eastern North America, from southern Pennsylvania south to northwest Florida and west to southern I ...
,
sweetgums,
dogwoods,
tupelos,
cherry
A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit).
Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet ''Prunus avium'' and the sour ''Prunus cerasus''. The nam ...
trees and
persimmons. These same pigments often combine with the carotenoids' colors to create the deeper orange, fiery reds, and bronzes typical of many hardwood species. (See
Autumn leaf color).
Blood and other reds in nature
Oxygenated blood is red due to the presence of oxygenated
hemoglobin that contains iron molecules, with the iron components reflecting red light.
Red meat gets its color from the iron found in the
myoglobin
Myoglobin (symbol Mb or MB) is an iron- and oxygen-binding protein found in the cardiac and skeletal muscle tissue of vertebrates in general and in almost all mammals. Myoglobin is distantly related to hemoglobin. Compared to hemoglobin, myoglobi ...
and hemoglobin in the muscles and residual blood.
Plants like
apples,
strawberries
The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid species of the genus '' Fragaria'', collectively known as the strawberries, which are cultivated worldwide for their fruit. The fruit is widely ap ...
,
cherries
A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit).
Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet ''Prunus avium'' and the sour ''Prunus cerasus''. The nam ...
,
tomatoes,
peppers, and
pomegranates are often colored by forms of
carotenoids, red pigments that also assist
photosynthesis.
Agarplate redbloodcells edit.jpg, Red blood cell agar
Agar ( or ), or agar-agar, is a jelly-like substance consisting of polysaccharides obtained from the cell walls of some species of red algae, primarily from ogonori (''Gracilaria'') and "tengusa" (''Gelidiaceae''). As found in nature, agar is ...
. Blood appears red due to the iron molecules in blood cells.
Can Setter dog GFDL.jpg, A red setter
The Irish Setter ( ga, sotar rua, literally "red setter") is a setter, a breed of gundog, and family dog. The term ''Irish Setter'' is commonly used to encompass the show-bred dog recognised by the American Kennel Club as well as the field-bred ...
or Irish setter
Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) -British Wildlife Centre-8.jpg, A pair of European red fox
The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the Order (biology), order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe ...
es.
Erithacus-rubecula-melophilus Dublin-Ireland.jpg, The European robin or robin redbreast
Hair color
Red hair occurs naturally on approximately 1–2% of the human population. It occurs more frequently (2–6%) in people of northern or western European ancestry, and less frequently in other populations. Red hair appears in people with two copies of a
recessive gene
In genetics, dominance is the phenomenon of one variant (allele) of a gene on a chromosome masking or overriding the effect of a different variant of the same gene on the other copy of the chromosome. The first variant is termed dominant and t ...
on
chromosome 16 which causes a mutation in the
MC1R
The melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R), also known as melanocyte-stimulating hormone receptor (MSHR), melanin-activating peptide receptor, or melanotropin receptor, is a G protein–coupled receptor that binds to a class of pituitary peptide hormones ...
protein.
Red hair varies from a deep
burgundy
Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...
through
burnt orange to bright
copper. It is characterized by high levels of the reddish pigment
pheomelanin (which also accounts for the red color of the lips) and relatively low levels of the dark pigment
eumelanin
Melanin (; from el, μέλας, melas, black, dark) is a broad term for a group of natural pigments found in most organisms. Eumelanin is produced through a multistage chemical process known as melanogenesis, where the oxidation of the amin ...
. The term redhead (originally ''redd hede'') has been in use since at least 1510.
In animal and human behavior
Red is associated with
dominance in a number of animal species.
For example, in
mandrill
The mandrill (''Mandrillus sphinx'') is a large Old World monkey native to west central Africa. It is one of the most colorful mammals in the world, with red and blue skin on its face and posterior. The species is sexually dimorphic, as males ...
s, red coloration of the face is greatest in
alpha
Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἄλφα, ''álpha'', or ell, άλφα, álfa) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter aleph , whic ...
males, increasingly less prominent in lower ranking subordinates, and directly correlated with levels of
testosterone. Red can also affect the perception of dominance by others, leading to significant differences in mortality,
reproductive success and
parental investment
Parental investment, in evolutionary biology and evolutionary psychology, is any parental expenditure (e.g. time, energy, resources) that benefits offspring.Clutton-Brock, T.H. 1991. ''The Evolution of Parental Care''. Princeton, NJ: Princeton ...
between individuals displaying red and those not. In humans, wearing red has been linked with increased performance in competitions, including professional sport and
multiplayer video game
A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
s. Controlled tests have demonstrated that wearing red does not increase performance or levels of testosterone during exercise, so the effect is likely to be produced by perceived rather than actual performance. Judges of
tae kwon do have been shown to favor competitors wearing red protective gear over blue, and, when asked, a significant majority of people say that red abstract shapes are more "dominant", "aggressive", and "likely to win a physical competition" than blue shapes.
In contrast to its positive effect in physical competition and dominance behavior, exposure to red decreases performance in cognitive tasks and elicits aversion in psychological tests where subjects are placed in an "achievement" context (e.g. taking an
IQ test).
History and art
In prehistory and the ancient world
File:9 Bisonte Magdaleniense polícromo.jpg, Bison in red ochre in the Cave of Altamira, Spain, from upper Paleolithic era (36,000 BC)
Pech Merle main.jpg, Image of a human hand created with red ochre
Ochre ( ; , ), or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colours produced ...
in Pech Merle cave, France ( Gravettian era, 25,000 BC).
KnossosFrescoRepro06827.jpg, ''The Prince of Lilies'', from the Bronze Age Palace of Minos at Knossos on Crete
Pompeii - Fullonica of Veranius Hypsaeus 2 - MAN.jpg, Roman wall painting showing a dye shop, Pompeii (40 BC).
Inside cave 13B at
Pinnacle Point, an archeological site found on the coast of South Africa,
paleoanthropologists
Paleoanthropology or paleo-anthropology is a branch of paleontology and anthropology which seeks to understand the early development of anatomically modern humans, a process known as hominization, through the reconstruction of evolutionary kinship ...
in 2000 found evidence that, between 170,000 and 40,000 years ago,
Late Stone Age
The Later Stone Age (LSA) is a period in African prehistory that follows the Middle Stone Age.
The Later Stone Age is associated with the advent of modern human behavior in Africa, although definitions of this concept and means of studying it ar ...
people were scraping and grinding
ochre
Ochre ( ; , ), or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colours produced ...
, a clay colored red by
iron oxide
Iron oxides are chemical compounds composed of iron and oxygen. Several iron oxides are recognized. All are black magnetic solids. Often they are non-stoichiometric. Oxyhydroxides are a related class of compounds, perhaps the best known of whic ...
, probably with the intention of using it to color their bodies.
Red
hematite
Hematite (), also spelled as haematite, is a common iron oxide compound with the formula, Fe2O3 and is widely found in rocks and soils. Hematite crystals belong to the rhombohedral lattice system which is designated the alpha polymorph of . ...
powder was also found scattered around the remains at a grave site in a
Zhoukoudian cave complex near
Beijing. The site has evidence of habitation as early as 700,000 years ago. The hematite might have been used to symbolize blood in an offering to the dead.
Red, black and white were the first colors used by artists in the
Upper Paleolithic age, probably because natural pigments such as red ochre and iron oxide were readily available where early people lived.
Madder
''Rubia'' is the type genus of the Rubiaceae family of flowering plants, which also contains coffee. It contains around 80 species of perennial scrambling or climbing herbs and subshrubs native to the Old World. The genus and its best-known spe ...
, a plant whose root could be made into a red dye, grew widely in Europe, Africa and Asia. The
cave of Altamira in Spain has a painting of a bison colored with red ochre that dates to between 15,000 and 16,500 BC.
A red dye called
Kermes was made beginning in the
Neolithic Period by drying and then crushing the bodies of the females of a tiny
scale insect
Scale insects are small insects of the order Hemiptera, suborder Sternorrhyncha. Of dramatically variable appearance and extreme sexual dimorphism, they comprise the infraorder Coccomorpha which is considered a more convenient grouping than the ...
in the genus ''
Kermes'', primarily ''
Kermes vermilio''. The insects live on the sap of certain trees, especially
Kermes oak trees near the Mediterranean region. Jars of kermes have been found in a Neolithic cave-burial at Adaoutse,
Bouches-du-Rhône. Kermes from oak trees was later used by Romans, who imported it from Spain. A different variety of dye was made from
''Porphyrophora hamelii'' (Armenian cochineal) scale insects that lived on the roots and stems of certain herbs. It was mentioned in texts as early as the 8th century BC, and it was used by the ancient Assyrians and Persians.
Red
hematite
Hematite (), also spelled as haematite, is a common iron oxide compound with the formula, Fe2O3 and is widely found in rocks and soils. Hematite crystals belong to the rhombohedral lattice system which is designated the alpha polymorph of . ...
powder was also found scattered around the remains at a grave site in a
Zhoukoudian cave complex near
Beijing. The site has evidence of habitation as early as 700,000 years ago. The hematite might have been used to symbolize blood in an offering to the dead.
In ancient Egypt, red was associated with life, health, and victory. Egyptians would color themselves with red ochre during celebrations. Egyptian women used red ochre as a
cosmetic
Cosmetic may refer to:
*Cosmetics, or make-up, substances to enhance the beauty of the human body, apart from simple cleaning
*Cosmetic, an adjective describing beauty, aesthetics, or appearance, especially concerning the human body
*Cosmetic, a t ...
to redden cheeks and lips and also used
henna
Henna is a dye prepared from the plant ''Lawsonia inermis'', also known as the henna tree, the mignonette tree, and the Egyptian privet, the sole species of the genus ''Lawsonia''.
''Henna'' can also refer to the temporary body art resulting fr ...
to color their hair and paint their nails.
The ancient Romans wore
togas with red stripes on holidays, and the bride at a wedding wore a red shawl, called a ''flammeum''.
Red was used to color statues and the skin of gladiators. Red was also the color associated with army; Roman soldiers wore red tunics, and officers wore a cloak called a
paludamentum which, depending upon the quality of the dye, could be crimson,
scarlet or purple. In
Roman mythology red is associated with the god of war,
Mars.
The
vexilloid of the
Roman Empire had a red background with the letters
SPQR in
gold. A Roman general receiving a
triumph had his entire body painted red in honor of his achievement.
The Romans liked bright colors, and many
Roman villas
A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions.
Typology and distribution
Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas ...
were decorated with vivid red murals. The pigment used for many of the murals was called
vermilion, and it came from the mineral
cinnabar, a common ore of
mercury
Mercury commonly refers to:
* Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun
* Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg
* Mercury (mythology), a Roman god
Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to:
Companies
* Merc ...
. It was one of the finest reds of ancient times – the paintings have retained their brightness for more than twenty centuries. The source of cinnabar for the Romans was a group of mines near
Almadén, southwest of
Madrid, in Spain. Working in the mines was extremely dangerous, since mercury is highly toxic; the miners were slaves or prisoners, and being sent to the cinnabar mines was a virtual death sentence.
The Middle Ages
Innozenz3.jpg, Roman Catholic Popes wear red as the symbol of the blood of Christ. This is Pope Innocent III, in about 1219.
File:S.George (Novgorod, mid. 14 c, GTG).jpg, Red was the traditional color of martyrs. A Russian icon of Saint George. (14th c.)
File:Domschatz Halberstadt Karlsteppich.png, THe colour of majesty - Portrait of Charlemagne,King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor, Netherlands,(14th c.)
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, red was adopted as a color of majesty and authority by the
Byzantine Empire, and the princes of Europe. It also played an important part in the rituals of the
Roman Catholic Church, symbolizing the blood of Christ and the Christian martyrs.
In Western Europe, Emperor
Charlemagne painted his palace red as a very visible symbol of his authority, and wore red shoes at his coronation.
Kings, princes and, beginning in 1295, Roman Catholic cardinals began to wear red colored
habitus. When
Abbe Suger rebuilt
Saint Denis Basilica outside Paris in the early 12th century, he added
stained glass
Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
windows colored blue cobalt glass and red glass tinted with copper. Together they flooded the basilica with a mystical light. Soon stained glass windows were being added to cathedrals all across France, England and Germany. In medieval painting red was used to attract attention to the most important figures; both
Christ and the
Virgin Mary were commonly painted wearing red mantles.
In western countries red is a symbol of martyrs and sacrifice, particularly because of its association with blood.
Beginning in the Middle Ages, the Pope and Cardinals of the
Roman Catholic Church wore red to symbolize the blood of Christ and the Christian martyrs. The banner of the Christian soldiers in the
First Crusade was a red cross on a white field, the
St. George's Cross
In heraldry, Saint George's Cross, the Cross of Saint George, is a red cross on a white background, which from the Late Middle Ages became associated with Saint George, the military saint, often depicted as a crusader.
Associated with the cr ...
. According to Christian tradition,
Saint George was a Roman soldier who was a member of the guards of the Emperor
Diocletian
Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...
, who refused to renounce his Christian faith and was martyred. The Saint George's Cross became the
Flag of England in the 16th century, and now is part of the
Union Flag of the United Kingdom, as well as the Flag of the Republic of
Georgia.
Renaissance
Elizabeth I Steven Van Der Meulen.jpg, The young Queen Elizabeth I (here in about 1563)
File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Wedding Dance - 30.374 - Detroit Institute of Arts.jpg, ''The Wedding Dance'' (1566), by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Pieter Bruegel (also Brueghel or Breughel) the Elder (, ; ; – 9 September 1569) was the most significant artist of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, a painter and printmaker, known for his landscapes and peasant scenes (so-called genr ...
.
Jan Vermeer van Delft 006.jpg, ''The Girl with the Wine Glass'', by Johannes Vermeer (1659–60).
In
Renaissance painting, red was used to draw the attention of the viewer; it was often used as the color of the cloak or costume of
Christ, the
Virgin Mary, or another central figure.
In
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
,
Titian was the master of fine reds, particularly
vermilion; he used many layers of pigment mixed with a semi-transparent glaze, which let the light pass through, to create a more luminous color. The figures of God, the Virgin Mary and two apostles are highlighted by their vermilion red costumes.
Queen
Elizabeth I of England liked to wear bright reds, before she adopted the more sober image of the "Virgin Queen".
Red costumes were not limited to the upper classes. In Renaissance
Flanders, people of all social classes wore red at celebrations. One such celebration was captured in ''
The Wedding Dance
''The Wedding Dance'' (sometimes known as ''The Village Dance'') is a 1566 oil-on-panel painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Owned by the museum of the Detroit Institute of Arts in Detroit, Michigan, the work was discovered by its director in Eng ...
'' (1566) by
Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Pieter Bruegel (also Brueghel or Breughel) the Elder (, ; ; – 9 September 1569) was the most significant artist of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, a painter and printmaker, known for his landscapes and peasant scenes (so-called genr ...
.
The painter
Johannes Vermeer skilfully used different shades and tints of vermilion to paint the red skirt in ''
The Girl with the Wine Glass'', then glazed it with madder lake to make a more luminous color.
Reds from the New World
Paracas textile, British Museum.jpg, Textiles dyed red from the Paracas culture of Peru (about 200 BC), in the British Museum
Aztecheaddress.jpg, Feather headdress from the Aztec people of Mexico and Central America. dyed with cochineal
Indian collecting cochineal.jpg, A native of Central America collecting cochineal insects from a cactus to make red dye (1777).
In Latin America, the
Aztec people
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl l ...
, the
Paracas culture and other societies used
cochineal, a vivid scarlet dye made from insects. From the 16th until the 19th century, cochineal became a highly profitable export from
Spanish Mexico
New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Am ...
to Europe.
18th to 20th century
File:Sansculottes.jpg, The "bonnet rouge" or red cap worn by the sans-culottes in the French Revolution
File:François-René Moreaux - O imperador D. Pedro II, sua esposa Teresa Cristina e suas filhas, princesas Isabel e Leopoldina, 1857.JPG, The Brazilian imperial family
The Brazilian Imperial Family (Brazilian Portuguese: ''Família Imperial Brasileira'') is a Brazilian Dynasty of Portuguese origin that ruled the Empire of Brazil from 1822 in Brazil, 1822 to 1889 in Brazil, 1889, after the proclamation of indepe ...
(1857)
File:Kustodiev The Bolshevik.jpg, Red flag of the Bolsheviks, by Boris Kustodiev (1920)
File:Chinese honor guard in column 070322-F-0193C-014.JPEG, Chinese Honour Guard, Beijing, 2007
In the 18th century, red began to take on a new identity as the colour of resistance and revolution. It was already associated with blood, and with danger; a red flag hoisted before a battle meant that no prisoners would be taken. In 1793-94, red became the colour of the
French Revolution. A red
Phrygian cap, or "liberty cap", was part of the uniform of the
sans-culottes, the most militant faction of the revolutionaries. King Louis XVI was forced to wear a red Phrygian cap after his arrest.
In the late 18th century, during a strike English dock workers carried red flags, and it thereafter became closely associated with the new labour movement, and later with the
Labour Party in The United Kingdom, founded in 1900.
In Paris in 1832, a red flag was carried by working-class demonstrators in the failed
June Rebellion, an event immortalised in ''
Les Misérables''), and later in the
1848 French Revolution
The French Revolution of 1848 (french: Révolution française de 1848), also known as the February Revolution (), was a brief period of civil unrest in France, in February 1848, that led to the collapse of the July Monarchy and the foundation ...
.
The red flag was proposed as the new national French flag during the 1848 revolution, but was rejected by at the urging of the poet and statesman
Alphonse Lamartine
Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine (; 21 October 179028 February 1869), was a French author, poet, and statesman who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic and the continuation of the Tricolore as the flag of France. ...
in favour of the tricolour flag. It appeared again as the flag of the short-lived
Paris Commune in 1871. It was then adopted by
Karl Marx and the new European movements of
socialism and
communism.
Soviet Russia adopted a red flag following the
Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. Communist China adopted the red flag following the
Chinese Revolution of 1949
The Chinese Communist Revolution, officially known as the Chinese People's War of Liberation in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and also known as the National Protection War against the Communist Rebellion in the Republic of China (R ...
. It was adopted by North
Vietnam in 1954, and by all of Vietnam in 1975.
Symbolism
Courage and sacrifice
Surveys show that red is the color most associated with courage.
In western countries red is a symbol of martyrs and sacrifice, particularly because of its association with blood.
Beginning in the Middle Ages, the Pope and Cardinals of the
Roman Catholic Church wore red to symbolize the blood of Christ and the Christian martyrs. The banner of the Christian soldiers in the
First Crusade was a red cross on a white field, the
St. George's Cross
In heraldry, Saint George's Cross, the Cross of Saint George, is a red cross on a white background, which from the Late Middle Ages became associated with Saint George, the military saint, often depicted as a crusader.
Associated with the cr ...
. According to Christian tradition,
Saint George was a Roman soldier who was a member of the guards of the Emperor
Diocletian
Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...
, who refused to renounce his Christian faith and was martyred. The Saint George's Cross became the
Flag of England in the 16th century, and now is part of the
Union Flag of the United Kingdom, as well as the Flag of the Republic of
Georgia.
Robert Gibb - The Thin Red Line.jpg, Robert Gibb
Robert Gibb RSA (28 October 1845 – 11 February 1932) was a Scottish painter who was Keeper of the National Gallery of Scotland from 1895 to 1907 and was Painter and Limner to the King from 1908 until his death. He built his reputation on ...
's 1881 painting, '' The Thin Red Line'', depicting The Thin Red Line at the Battle of Balaclava
The Battle of Balaclava, fought on 25 October 1854 during the Crimean War, was part of the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–55), an Allied attempt to capture the port and fortress of Sevastopol, Russian Empire, Russia's principal naval base on the Bl ...
(1854), when a line of the Scottish Highland infantry repulsed a Russian cavalry charge. The name was given by the British press as a symbol of courage against the odds.
Poppies in the Sunset on Lake Geneva.jpg, The red poppy flower is worn on Remembrance Day in Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
countries to honor soldiers who died in the First World War.
Hatred, anger, aggression, passion, heat and war
While red is the color most associated with love, it also the color most frequently associated with
hatred
Hatred is an intense negative emotional response towards certain people, things or ideas, usually related to opposition or revulsion toward something. Hatred is often associated with intense feelings of anger, contempt, and disgust. Hatred is s ...
,
anger,
aggression
Aggression is overt or covert, often harmful, social interaction with the intention of inflicting damage or other harm upon another individual; although it can be channeled into creative and practical outlets for some. It may occur either reacti ...
and war. People who are angry are said to "." Red is the color most commonly associated with passion and heat. In
ancient Rome, red was the color of
Mars, the
god of war
A war god in mythology associated with war, combat, or bloodshed. They occur commonly in both monotheistic and polytheistic religions.
Unlike most gods and goddesses in polytheistic religions, monotheistic deities have traditionally been po ...
—the planet
Mars was named for him because of its red color.
Warning and danger
Red is the traditional color of warning and danger, and is therefore often used on flags. In the Middle Ages up through the
French Revolution, a
red flag Red flag may refer to:
* Red flag (idiom), a metaphor for something signalling a problem
** Red flag warning, a term used by meteorologists
** Red flag (battle ensign), maritime flag signaling an intention to give battle with no quarter (fight to ...
shown in warfare indicated the intent to take no prisoners. Similarly, a red flag hoisted by a
pirate ship meant no mercy would be shown to their target. In Britain, in the early days of motoring, motor cars had to follow a man with a red flag who would warn horse-drawn vehicles, before the
Locomotives on Highways Act 1896 abolished this law. In automobile races, the red flag is raised if there is danger to the drivers. In international football, a player who has made a serious violation of the rules is shown a red
penalty card
Penalty cards are used in many sports as a means of warning, reprimanding or penalising a player, coach or team official. Penalty cards are most commonly used by referees or umpires to indicate that a player has committed an offence. The officia ...
and ejected from the game.
Several studies have indicated that red carries the strongest reaction of all the colors, with the level of reaction decreasing gradually with the colors orange, yellow, and white, respectively. For this reason, red is generally used as the highest level of warning, such as threat level of terrorist attack in the United States. In fact, teachers at a primary school in the UK have been told not to mark children's work in
red ink because it encourages a "negative approach".
Red is the international color of stop signs and stop lights on highways and intersections. It was standardized as the international color at the
Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals of 1968. It was chosen partly because red is the brightest color in daytime (next to orange), though it is less visible at twilight, when green is the most visible color. Red also stands out more clearly against a cool natural backdrop of blue sky, green trees or gray buildings. But it was mostly chosen as the color for stoplights and stop signs because of its universal association with danger and warning.
The 1968
Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals of 1968 uses red color also for the margin of danger warning sign, give way signs and prohibitory signs, following the previous German-type signage (established by Verordnung über Warnungstafeln für den Kraftfahrzeugverkehr in 1927).
Vienna Convention road sign B2a.svg, The standard international stop sign, following the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals of 1968
File:SM-PAOK (18).jpg, A footballer is shown a red card and ejected from a soccer match
Red typhoon alert.png, A red Chinese typhoon alert sign
Hsas-chart with header.svg, Red is the color of a severe terrorist threat level in the United States, under the Homeland Security Advisory System.
AU Fire Danger Indicator.jpg, Red is the color of a severe fire danger in Australia; new black/red stripes are an even more catastrophic hazard.
The color that attracts attention
Red is the color that most attracts attention. Surveys show it is the color most frequently associated with visibility, proximity, and extroverts. It is also the color most associated with dynamism and activity.
Red is used in modern fashion much as it was used in Medieval painting; to attract the eyes of the viewer to the person who is supposed to be the center of attention. People wearing red seem to be closer than those dressed in other colors, even if they are actually the same distance away.
Monarchs, wives of presidential candidates and other celebrities often wear red to be visible from a distance in a crowd. It is also commonly worn by lifeguards and others whose job requires them to be easily found.
Because red attracts attention, it is frequently used in advertising, though studies show that people are less likely to read something printed in red because they know it is advertising, and because it is more difficult visually to read than black and white text.
Seduction, sexuality and sin
Red by a large margin is the color most commonly associated with seduction, sexuality, eroticism and immorality, possibly because of its close connection with passion and with danger.
Red was long seen as having a dark side, particularly in
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
theology. It was associated with sexual passion, anger, sin, and the devil.
In the
Old Testament
The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
of the
Bible, the
Book of Isaiah
The Book of Isaiah ( he, ספר ישעיהו, ) is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. It is identified by a superscription as the words of the 8th-century BC ...
said: "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow." In the
New Testament, in the
Book of Revelation, the Antichrist appears as a red monster, ridden by a woman dressed in scarlet, known as the
Whore of Babylon.
Satan
Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...
is often depicted as colored red and/or wearing a red costume in both iconography and
popular culture.
By the 20th century, the devil in red had become a folk character in legends and stories. The devil in red appears more often in cartoons and movies than in religious art.
In 17th-century New England, red was associated with
adultery. In the 1850 novel by
Nathaniel Hawthorne, ''
The Scarlet Letter'', set in a
Puritan New England community, a woman is punished for adultery with ostracism, her sin represented by a red letter 'A' sewn onto her clothes.
Red is still commonly associated with
prostitution
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...
. At various points in history, prostitutes were required to wear red to announce their profession.
Houses of prostitution displayed a red light. Beginning in the early 20th century, houses of prostitution were allowed only in certain specified neighborhoods, which became known as
red-light districts. Large red-light districts are found today in
Bangkok and
Amsterdam.
In both Christian and Hebrew tradition, red is also sometimes associated with murder or guilt, with "having blood on one's hands", or "being caught red-handed.
Whore of Babylon (XIV).jpg, The Whore of Babylon, depicted in a 14th-century French illuminated manuscript. The woman appears attractive, but is wearing red under her blue garment.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec 057.jpg, ''Reine de joie'', (''Queen of Joy''), a book cover illustration by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1892) about a Paris prostitute
At the Devil's Ball 1.jpg, Sheet music for "At the Devil's Ball", by Irving Berlin, United States, 1915.
Amsterdam red light district 24-7-2003.JPG, The red-light district
A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light districts are particu ...
in Amsterdam (2003). Red is the sex industry's preferred color in many cultures, due to being strongly associated with passion, love and sexuality.
Red lipstick (photo by weglet).jpg, Red lipstick
Lipstick is a cosmetic product used to apply coloration and texture to lips, often made of wax and oil. Different pigments are used to produce color, and minerals such as silica may be used to provide texture. The use of lipstick dates back to ...
has been worn by women as a cosmetic since ancient times. It was worn by Cleopatra
Cleopatra VII Philopator ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ}, "Cleopatra the father-beloved"; 69 BC10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler.She was also a ...
, Queen Elizabeth I, and film stars such as Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...
and Marilyn Monroe.
In religion
* In Christianity, red is associated with the blood of Christ and the sacrifice of
martyrs. In the
Roman Catholic Church it is also associated with
pentecost
Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 50th day (the seventh Sunday) after Easter Sunday. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles in the Ne ...
and the Holy Spirit. Since 1295, it is the color worn by Cardinals, the senior clergy of the Roman Catholic Church. Red is the
liturgical color for the feasts of martyrs, representing the blood of those who suffered death for their faith. It is sometimes used as the liturgical color for
Holy Week, including
Palm Sunday and
Good Friday
Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday (also Hol ...
, although this is a modern (20th-century) development. In Catholic practice, it is also the liturgical color used to commemorate the Holy Spirit (for this reason it is worn at Pentecost and during Confirmation masses). Because of its association with martyrdom and the Spirit, it is also the color used to commemorate saints who were martyred, such as St. George and all the Apostles (except for the Apostle St. John, who was not martyred, where white is used). As such, it is used to commemorate bishops, who are the successors of the Apostles (for this reason, when funeral masses are held for bishops, cardinals, or popes, red is used instead of the white that would ordinarily be used).
* In
Buddhism, red is one of the five colors which are said to have emanated from the
Buddha when he attained enlightenment, or
nirvana. It is particularly associated with the benefits of the practice of Buddhism; achievement, wisdom, virtue, fortune and dignity. It was also believed to have the power to resist evil. In China red was commonly used for the walls, pillars, and gates of temples.
* In the
Shinto religion of Japan, the gateways of temples, called
torii, are traditionally painted vermilion red and black. The torii symbolizes the passage from the profane world to a sacred place. The bridges in the gardens of Japanese temples are also painted red (and usually only temple bridges are red, not bridges in ordinary gardens), since they are also passages to sacred places. Red was also considered a color which could expel evil and disease.
Itsukushima torii angle.jpg, A Shinto torii at Itsukushima, Japan
John Paul II funeral long shot.jpg, Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church at the funeral of Pope John Paul II
Debating Monks.JPG, Buddhist monks in Tibet
Ravi Varma-Lakshmi.jpg, In Hinduism, red is associated with Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and embodiment of beauty.
Muharram in cities and villages of Iran-342 16 (160).jpg, Red flags in a celebration of Muharram in Iran.
Military uses
The red uniform
The red military uniform was adopted by the English Parliament's
New Model Army
The New Model Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War, then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Th ...
in 1645, and was still worn as a dress uniform by the British Army until the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914. Ordinary soldiers wore red coats dyed with
madder
''Rubia'' is the type genus of the Rubiaceae family of flowering plants, which also contains coffee. It contains around 80 species of perennial scrambling or climbing herbs and subshrubs native to the Old World. The genus and its best-known spe ...
, while officers wore scarlet coats dyed with the more expensive
cochineal.
This led to British soldiers being known as
red coats.
In the modern British army, scarlet is still worn by the
Foot Guards, the
Life Guards, and by some regimental bands or
drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...
mers for ceremonial purposes.
Officers and
NCOs of those regiments which previously wore red retain scarlet as the color of their "mess" or formal evening jackets. The
Royal Gibraltar Regiment
The Royal Gibraltar Regiment is part of British Forces Gibraltar for the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. It was formed in 1958 from the Gibraltar Defence Force as an infantry unit, with an integrated artillery troop. The regiment is ...
has a scarlet tunic in its winter dress.
Scarlet is worn for some full dress, military band or mess uniforms in the modern armies of a number of the countries that made up the former British Empire. These include the Australian,
Jamaican, New Zealand,
Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...
an, Canadian,
Kenyan,
Ghanaian, Indian,
Singaporean,
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
n and Pakistani armies.
The musicians of the
United States Marine Corps Band
The United States Marine Band is the premier band of the United States Marine Corps. Established by act of Congress on July 11, 1798, it is the oldest of the United States military bands and the oldest professional musical organization in the ...
wear red, following an 18th-century military tradition that the uniforms of band members are the reverse of the uniforms of the other soldiers in their unit. Since the US Marine uniform is blue with red facings, the band wears the reverse.
Red Serge is the uniform of the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police, created in 1873 as the
North-West Mounted Police
The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian para-military police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert’s Land and North-Western Territory ...
, and given its present name in 1920. The uniform was adapted from the tunic of the
British Army. Cadets at the
Royal Military College of Canada also wear red dress uniforms.
The
Brazilian Marine Corps )
, colors=Red and white
, colors_label=Colors
, march=
, mascot=
, battles = Invasion of Cayenne (1809) Banda Oriental Conquest (1816)War of Independence (1821–1824)Confederation of the Equator(1824)Cisplatine War(1825–1828)Ragamuffin War(183 ...
wears a red dress uniform.
Officer and Private, 40th Foot, 1815.jpg, Officer and soldier of the British Army, 1815.
Garde nationale bulgare.jpg, The scarlet uniform of the National Guards Unit of Bulgaria
PlateVII Band.jpg, Musicians of the United States Marine Corps Band
The United States Marine Band is the premier band of the United States Marine Corps. Established by act of Congress on July 11, 1798, it is the oldest of the United States military bands and the oldest professional musical organization in the ...
RCMP officer on a horse.JPG, Officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Forma-2g.jpg, The Brazilian Marine Corps )
, colors=Red and white
, colors_label=Colors
, march=
, mascot=
, battles = Invasion of Cayenne (1809) Banda Oriental Conquest (1816)War of Independence (1821–1824)Confederation of the Equator(1824)Cisplatine War(1825–1828)Ragamuffin War(183 ...
wears a dress uniform called ''A Garança''.
Indian Army-Rajput regiment.jpeg, Soldiers of the Rajput Regiment of the Indian Army
NATO Military Symbols for Land Based Systems
NATO Joint Military Symbology is the NATO standard for military map symbols. Originally published in 1986 as Allied Procedural Publication 6 (APP-6), NATO Military Symbols for Land Based Systems, the standard has evolved over the years and is c ...
uses red to denote hostile forces, hence the terms "
red team
A red team or team red are a group that plays the role of an enemy or competitor to provide security feedback from that perspective. Red teams are used in many fields, especially in cybersecurity, airport security, law enforcement, the military a ...
" and "
Red Cell" to denote challengers during exercises.
In sports
The first known team sport to feature red uniforms was
chariot racing during the late
Roman Empire. The earliest races were between two chariots, one driver wearing red, the other white. Later, the number of teams was increased to four, including drivers in light green and sky blue. Twenty-five races were run in a day, with a total of one hundred chariots participating.
Today many sports teams throughout the world feature red on their uniforms. Along with
blue, red is the most commonly used non-white color in sports. Numerous national sports teams wear red, often through association with their national flags. A few of these teams feature the color as part of their nickname such as Spain (with their
association football (soccer) national team nicknamed ''La Furia Roja'' or "The Red Fury") and Belgium (whose
football team bears the nickname ''Rode Duivels'' or "Red Devils").
In club
association football (soccer), red is a commonly used color throughout the world. A number of teams' nicknames feature the color. A red
penalty card
Penalty cards are used in many sports as a means of warning, reprimanding or penalising a player, coach or team official. Penalty cards are most commonly used by referees or umpires to indicate that a player has committed an offence. The officia ...
is issued to a player who commits a serious infraction: the player is immediately disqualified from further play and his team must continue with one fewer player for the game's duration.
Rosso Corsa
Rosso corsa is the red international motor racing colour of cars entered by teams from Italy.
Since the 1920s Italian race cars of Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Lancia, and later Ferrari and Abarth have been painted in ''rosso corsa'' ("racing red"). ...
is the red international motor racing color of cars entered by teams from Italy. Since the 1920s Italian race cars of
Alfa Romeo,
Maserati
Maserati S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer. Established on 1 December 1914, in Bologna, Italy, the company's headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. The company has been owned by Stellantis since 2021. Ma ...
,
Lancia
Lancia () is an Italian car manufacturer and a subsidiary of FCA Italy S.p.A., which is currently a Stellantis division. The present legal entity of Lancia was formed in January 2007 when its corporate parent reorganised its businesses, but it ...
, and later
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
and
Abarth have been painted with a color known as ''rosso corsa'' ("racing red"). National colors were mostly replaced in
Formula One by commercial sponsor liveries in 1968, but unlike most other teams, Ferrari always kept the traditional red, although the shade of the color varies.
The color is commonly used for professional sports teams in Canada and the United States with eleven
Major League Baseball teams, eleven
National Hockey League teams, seven
National Football League teams and eleven
National Basketball Association teams prominently featuring some shade of the color. The color is also featured in the league logos of Major League Baseball, the National Football League and the National Basketball Association. In the National Football League, a red flag is thrown by the head coach to challenge a referee's decision during the game. During the 1950s when red was strongly associated with
communism in the United States, the modern
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...
team was known as the "Redlegs" and the term was used on baseball cards. After the red scare faded, the team was known as the "Reds" again.
In
boxing, red is often the color used on a fighter's gloves.
George Foreman
George Edward Foreman (born January 10, 1949) is an American former professional boxer, entrepreneur, minister and author. In boxing, he was nicknamed "Big George" and competed between 1967 and 1997. He is a two-time world heavyweight champio ...
wore the same red trunks he used during his loss to
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...
when he defeated
Michael Moorer
Michael Lee Moorer (born November 12, 1967) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2008. He won a world championship on four occasions in two weight classes, having held the WBO light heavyweight title from 1988 to ...
20 years later to regain the title he lost. Boxers named or nicknamed "red" include
Red Burman
''For the judge who shares the same birth-name, see Clarence H. Burns.''
James Clarence 'Red' Burman (born James Clarence Burman, March 18, 1915 – January 25, 1996) was an American boxer in the Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight divisions. Duri ...
,
Ernie "Red" Lopez, and his brother
Danny "Little Red" Lopez.
Winner of a Roman chariot race.jpg, Ancient Roman mosaic of the winner of a chariot race, wearing the colors of the red team.
RS Redz.png, Both the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox wear red.
Tamashiro-kata-Tampere-2006.jpg, In martial arts, a red belt shows a high degree of proficiency, second only, in some schools, to the black belt.
Alfa Romeo 33 SC 12 Sovralimentata 1977 red vr TCE.jpg, An Alfa Romeo Sports Racing car in 1977, painted Rosso Corsa
Rosso corsa is the red international motor racing colour of cars entered by teams from Italy.
Since the 1920s Italian race cars of Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Lancia, and later Ferrari and Abarth have been painted in ''rosso corsa'' ("racing red"). ...
, ("racing red"), the traditional racing color of Italy from the 1920s until the late 1960s.
On flags
Red is the most common color found in national flags, found on the flags of 77 percent of the 210 countries listed as independent in 2016; far ahead of white (58 percent); green (40 percent) and blue (37 percent). The
British flag
The national flag of the United Kingdom is the Union Jack, also known as the Union Flag.
The design of the Union Jack dates back to the Act of Union 1801 which united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland (previously in per ...
bears the colors red, white and blue; it includes the
cross of
Saint George, patron saint of England, and the
saltire of
Saint Patrick
Saint Patrick ( la, Patricius; ga, Pádraig ; cy, Padrig) was a fifth-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, the other patron saints be ...
, patron saint of Ireland, both of which are red on white.
The
flag of the United States
The national flag of the United States, United States of America, often referred to as the ''American flag'' or the ''U.S. flag'', consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rect ...
bears the colors of Britain, the colors of the French
tricolore include red as part of the old Paris coat of arms, and other countries' flags, such as those of
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 ...
,
New Zealand, and
Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...
, carry a small inset of the British flag in memory of their ties to that country.
Many former colonies of Spain, such as
Mexico,
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
,
Costa Rica
Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...
,
Cuba,
Ecuador,
Panama,
Peru,
Puerto Rico and
Venezuela, also feature red-one of the colors of the Spanish flag-on their own banners. Red flags are also used to symbolize storms, bad water conditions, and many other dangers.
The red on the
flag of Nepal
The national flag of Nepal ( ne, नेपालको झण्डा) is the world's only non-rectangular flag that acts as both the state flag and civil flag of a sovereign country. The flag is a simplified combination of two single pennon ...
represents the
floral emblem of the country, the
rhododendron
''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...
.
Red, blue, and white are also the
Pan-Slavic colors
The pan-Slavic colours (or colors) — red, blue and white — were defined by the Prague Slavic Congress, 1848, based on the flag of Russia, which was introduced in the late 17th century. The tricolor flag of Russia was itself inspired by the ...
adopted by the Slavic solidarity movement of the late nineteenth century. Initially these were the colors of the Russian flag; as the Slavic movement grew, they were adopted by other Slavic peoples including
Slovaks
The Slovaks ( sk, Slováci, singular: ''Slovák'', feminine: ''Slovenka'', plural: ''Slovenky'') are a West Slavic ethnic group and nation native to Slovakia who share a common ancestry, culture, history and speak Slovak.
In Slovakia, 4.4 mi ...
,
Slovenes, and
Serbs. The flags of the
Czech Republic and
Poland use red for historic heraldic reasons (see
Coat of arms of Poland and
Coat of arms of the Czech Republic
The coat of arms of the Czech Republic () is divided into two principal variants. Greater coat of arms displays the three Historical regions of Central Europe, historical regions—the Czech lands—which make up the nation. Lesser coat of arms d ...
) & not due to Pan-Slavic connotations. In 2004
Georgia adopted a new white
flag
A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...
, which consists of four small and one big red cross in the middle touching all four sides.
Red, white, and black were the colors of the
German Empire
The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
from 1870 to 1918, and as such they came to be associated with German nationalism. In the 1920s they were adopted as the colors of the
Nazi flag. In ''
Mein Kampf
(; ''My Struggle'' or ''My Battle'') is a 1925 autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The work describes the process by which Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germ ...
'', Hitler explained that they were "revered colors expressive of our homage to the glorious past." The red part of the flag was also chosen to attract attention – Hitler wrote: "the new flag ... should prove effective as a large poster" because "in hundreds of thousands of cases a really striking emblem may be the first cause of awakening interest in a movement." The red also symbolized the social program of the Nazis, aimed at German workers. Several designs by a number of different authors were considered, but the one adopted in the end was Hitler's personal design.
Red, white, green and black are the colors of
Pan-Arabism
Pan-Arabism ( ar, الوحدة العربية or ) is an ideology that espouses the unification of the countries of North Africa and Western Asia from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Sea, which is referred to as the Arab world. It is closely c ...
and are used by many Arab countries.
Red, gold, green, and black are the colors of
Pan-Africanism. Several African countries thus use the color on their flags, including South Africa,
Ghana,
Senegal,
Mali,
Ethiopia,
Togo,
Guinea
Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...
,
Benin, and
Zimbabwe. The
Pan-African colors are borrowed from the
flag of Ethiopia
The flag of Ethiopia ( am, የኢትዮጵያ ሰንደቅ ዐላማ, Ye-Ītyōṗṗyā sändäq ʿälama) is the national flag of Ethiopia. It consists of a green, yellow, and red tricolour with the National Emblem, a golden pentagram on a blu ...
, one of the oldest independent African countries.
Rwanda, notably, removed red from
its flag after the
Rwandan genocide because of red's association with blood.
The flags of Japan and
Bangladesh both have a red circle in the middle of different colored backgrounds. The flag of the
Philippines has a red trapezoid on the bottom signifying blood, courage, and valor (also, if the flag is inverted so that the red trapezoid is on top and the blue at the bottom, it indicates a state of war). The flag of
Singapore has a red rectangle on the top. The field of the
flag of Portugal
The national flag of Portugal ( pt, Bandeira de Portugal) is a rectangular bicolour with a field divided into green on the hoist, and red on the fly. The lesser version of the national coat of arms of Portugal ( armillary sphere and Portuguese ...
is green and red. The Ottoman Empire adopted several different red flags during the six centuries of its rule, with the successor
Republic of Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
continuing the 1844 Ottoman
flag
A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...
.
Flag of Palaeologus Dynasty.svg, The flag of the Byzantine Empire from 1260 to its fall in 1453
Flag of England.svg, The St George's cross was the banner of the First Crusade, then, beginning in the 13th century, the flag of England. It is the red color (along with that of the Cross of Saint Patrick) in the flag of the United Kingdom, and, by adoption, of the red in the flag of the United States.
Grand Union Flag.svg, The red stripes in the flag of the United States were adapted from the flag of the British East Indies Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
. This is the Grand Union Flag, the first U.S. flag established by the Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...
.
Flag of Georgia.svg, The Flag of Georgia also features the Saint George's Cross. It dates back to the banner of Medieval Georgia in the 5th century.
Flag of Canada.svg, The maple leaf flag of Canada, adopted in 1965. The red color comes from the Saint George's Cross of England.
In politics
In 18th-century Europe, red was usually associated with the monarchy and with those in power. The
Pope wore red, as did the
Swiss Guards
Swiss Guards (french: Gardes Suisses; german: Schweizergarde; it, Guardie Svizzere'')'' are Swiss soldiers who have served as guards at foreign European courts since the late 15th century.
The earliest Swiss guard unit to be established on a p ...
of the
Kings of France
France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the Kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions.
Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I () as the first ...
, the soldiers of the
British Army and the
Danish Army.
The
French Revolution saw red used by the
Jacobins as a symbol of the martyrs of the Revolution. In the nineteenth century, with the
Industrial Revolution and the rise of worker's movements, it became the color of
socialism (especially the
Marxist
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
variant
Variant may refer to:
In arts and entertainment
* ''Variant'' (magazine), a former British cultural magazine
* Variant cover, an issue of comic books with varying cover art
* ''Variant'' (novel), a novel by Robison Wells
* " The Variant", 2021 e ...
), and, with the
Paris Commune of 1871, of revolution.
In the 20th century, red was the color first of the Russian
Bolsheviks and then, after the success of the
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...
of 1917, of
communist parties around the world. However, after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia went back to the pre-revolutionary blue, white and red flag.
Red also became the color of many
social democratic
Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...
parties in Europe, including the
Labour Party in Britain (founded 1900); the
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany.
Saskia Esken has been the ...
(whose roots went back to 1863) and the
French Socialist Party
The Socialist Party (french: Parti socialiste , PS) is a French centre-left and social-democratic political party. It holds pro-European views.
The PS was for decades the largest party of the "French Left" and used to be one of the two major p ...
, which dated back under different names, to 1879. The
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...
(1901–72) and the
Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...
(1919) both also chose red as their color.
Members of the
Christian-Social People's Party in
Liechtenstein (founded 1918) advocated an expansion of democracy and progressive social policies, and were often referred to disparagingly as "Reds" for their social liberal leanings and party colors.
The
Chinese Communist Party, founded in 1920, adopted the red flag and hammer and sickle emblem of the Soviet Union, which became the national symbols when the Party took power in China in 1949. Under Party leader
Mao Zedong, the Party anthem became "
The East Is Red", and Mao Zedong himself was sometimes referred to as a "red sun". During the
Cultural Revolution in China, Party ideology was enforced by the
Red Guards, and the
sayings of Mao Zedong were published as a little red book in hundreds of millions of copies. Today the Chinese Communist Party claims to be the largest political party in the world, with eighty million members.
Beginning in the 1960s and the 1970s, paramilitary extremist groups such as the
Red Army Faction in Germany, the
Japanese Red Army and the
Shining Path Maoist movement in
Peru used red as their color. But in the 1980s, some European socialist and social democratic parties, such as the Labour Party in Britain and the Socialist Party in France, moved away from the symbolism of the far left, keeping the red color but changing their symbol to a less-threatening red rose.
Red is used around the world by political parties of the left or center-left. In the United States, it is the color of the Communist Party USA, of the
Social Democrats, USA, and in Puerto Rico, of the
Popular Democratic Party.
In the United States, political commentators often refer to the "red states", which voted for Republican candidates in the last four presidential elections, and "blue states", which voted for Democrats. This convention is relatively recent: before the
2000 presidential election, media outlets assigned red and blue to both parties, sometimes alternating the allocation for each election. Fixed usage was established during the 39-day recount following the 2000 election, when the media began to discuss the contest in terms of
"red states" versus "blue states". States which voted for different parties in two of the last four presidential elections are called "Swing States", and are usually coloured purple, a mix of red and blue.
Social and special interest groups
Such names as Red Club (a bar), Red Carpet (a discothèque) or Red Cottbus and Club Red (event locations) suggest liveliness and excitement. The
Red Hat Society is a social group founded in 1998 for women 50 and over. Use of the color red to call attention to an emergency situation is evident in the names of such organizations as the Red Cross (humanitarian aid), Red Hot Organization (AIDS support), and the Red List of Threatened Species (of
IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
). In reference to humans, term "red" is often used in the West to describe the
indigenous peoples of the Americas.
Idioms
Many idiomatic expressions exploit the various connotations of red:
; Expressing emotion
* "to see red" (to be angry or aggressive)
* "to have red ears / a red face" (to be embarrassed)
* "to paint the town red" (to have an enjoyable evening, usually with a generous amount of eating, drinking, dancing)
; Giving warning
* "to raise a red flag" (to signal that something is problematic)
* "like a red rag to a bull" (to cause someone to be enraged)
* "to be in the red" (to be losing money, from the accounting convention of writing deficits and losses in
red ink)
; Calling attention
* "a
red letter day
A red letter day (sometimes hyphenated as red-letter day or called scarlet day in academia) is any day of special significance or opportunity.
Its roots are in classical antiquity; for instance, important days are indicated in red in a calendar d ...
" (a special or important event, from the medieval custom of printing the dates of saints' days and holy days in red ink.)
* "to print in red ink" (for emphasis or easy identification), more formally "to
rubricate"
* "to lay out the
red carpet" or "give red-carpet treatment" (to treat someone royally as a very special person)
* "to catch someone red-handed" (in the act of doing something wrong, such with blood on his hands after a murder or poaching game)
; Other idioms
* "to tie up in
red tape
Red tape is an idiom referring to regulations or conformity to formal rules or standards which are claimed to be excessive, rigid or redundant, or to bureaucracy claimed to hinder or prevent action or decision-making. It is usually applied to g ...
". In England red tape was used by lawyers and government officials to identify important documents. It became a term for excessive bureaucratic regulation. It was popularized in the 19th century by the writer
Thomas Carlyle, who complained about "red-tapism".
* "
red herring
A red herring is a figurative expression referring to a logical fallacy in which a clue or piece of information is or is intended to be misleading, or distracting from the actual question.
Red herring may also refer to: Animals
* Red herring (fis ...
". A false clue that leads investigators off the track. Refers to the practice of using a fragrant smoked fish to distract hunting or tracking dogs from the track they are meant to follow.
See also
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Blushing
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Lists of colors
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Little Red Riding Hood
*
Red flag (politics)
In politics, a red flag is predominantly a symbol of socialism, communism, Marxism, trade unions, left-wing politics, and historically of anarchism. It has been associated with left-wing politics since the French Revolution (1789–1799).Brink, ...
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Red pigments
Red pigments are materials, usually made from minerals, used to create the red colors in painting and other arts. The color of red and other pigments is determined by the way it absorbs certain parts of the spectrum of visible light and reflects ...
References
Notes and citations
Bibliography
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External links
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{{Authority control
Primary colors
Secondary colors
Optical spectrum
Rainbow colors
Web colors