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Yellow is the color between green and orange on the
spectrum of light The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of frequencies (the spectrum) of electromagnetic radiation and their respective wavelengths and photon energies. The electromagnetic spectrum covers electromagnetic waves with frequencies ranging from b ...
. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. 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 ...
, used to create colors on television and computer screens, yellow is a secondary color made by combining red and green at equal intensity.
Carotenoid Carotenoids (), also called tetraterpenoids, are yellow, orange, and red organic compound, organic pigments that are produced by plants and algae, as well as several bacteria, and Fungus, fungi. Carotenoids give the characteristic color to pumpki ...
s give the characteristic yellow color to autumn leaves,
corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
, canaries, daffodils, and lemons, as well as
egg yolk Among animals which produce eggs, the yolk (; also known as the vitellus) is the nutrient-bearing portion of the egg whose primary function is to supply food for the development of the embryo. Some types of egg contain no yolk, for example bec ...
s, buttercups, and bananas. They absorb light energy and protect plants from photo damage in some cases.
Sunlight Sunlight is a portion of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun, in particular infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light. On Earth, sunlight is scattered and filtered through Earth's atmosphere, and is obvious as daylight when t ...
has a slight yellowish hue when the Sun is near the horizon, due to
atmospheric scattering Diffuse sky radiation is solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface after having been scattered from the direct solar beam by molecules or particulates in the atmosphere. It is also called sky radiation, the determinative process for chang ...
of shorter wavelengths (green, blue, and violet). Because it was widely available, yellow ochre pigment was one of the first colors used in art; the Lascaux cave in France has a painting of a yellow horse 17,000 years old. Ochre and orpiment pigments were used to represent gold and skin color in Egyptian tombs, then in the murals in Roman villas. In the early Christian church, yellow was the color associated with the Pope and the golden keys of the Kingdom, but it was also associated with Judas Iscariot and used to mark heretics. In the 20th century, Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe were forced to wear a yellow star. In China, bright yellow was the color of the Middle Kingdom, and could be worn only by the emperor and his household; special guests were welcomed on a yellow carpet.Cited in Eva Heller (2000), ''Psychologie de la couleur – effets et symboliques'', p. 82. According to surveys in Europe, Canada, the United States and elsewhere, yellow is the color people most often associate with amusement, gentleness, humor, happiness, and spontaneity, but also with duplicity, envy, jealousy, greed, and, in the U.S., cowardice. In Iran it has connotations of pallor/sickness, but also wisdom and connection. In China and many Asian countries, it is seen as the color of happiness, glory, harmony and wisdom.


Etymology

The word ''yellow'' is from the
Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
''geolu'', ''geolwe'' ( oblique case), meaning "yellow, and yellowish", derived from the Proto-Germanic word ''gelwaz'' "yellow". It has the same Indo-European base, ''gel-'', as the words ''gold'' and ''yell''; ''gʰel-'' means both bright and gleaming, and to cry out. The English term is related to other Germanic words for ''yellow'', namely Scots ''yella'', East Frisian ''jeel'', West Frisian ''giel'', Dutch ''geel'', German ''gelb'', and Swedish and Norwegian ''gul''. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the oldest known use of this word in English is from ''The Epinal Glossary'' in 700.


Science and nature


Optics, color printing, and computer screens

File:CMYK color swatches.svg, Color printing typically uses ink of four colors:
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 ...
, magenta, yellow, and
key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...
(black). When CMY "primaries" are combined at full strength, the resulting "secondary" mixtures are red, green, and blue. File:SubtractiveColor.svg, Mixing all three theoretically results in black, but imperfect ink formulations do not give true black, which is why an additional ''K'' component is needed. File:NIEdot367.jpg, An example of color printing from 1902. Combining images in yellow, magenta and cyan creates a full-color picture. This is called the CMYK color model. File:RGB illumination.jpg, On a computer display, yellow is created by combining green and red light at the right intensity on a black screen.
Yellow is found between green and red on the spectrum of visible light. It is the color the human eye sees when it looks at light with a dominant wavelength between 570 and 590 nanometers. In color printing, yellow is one of the three subtractive primary colors of ink along with magenta and
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 ...
. Together with black, they can be overlaid in the right combination to print any full color image. (See the CMYK color model). A particular yellow is used, called Process yellow (also known as "pigment yellow", "printer's yellow", and "canary yellow"). Process yellow is not an RGB color, and there is no fixed conversion from CMYK primaries to RGB. Different formulations are used for printer's ink, so there can be variations in the printed color that is pure yellow ink. The yellow on a color television or computer screen is created in a completely different way; by combining green and red light at the right level of intensity. (See
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 ...
).


Complementary colors

Traditionally, the complementary color of yellow is purple; the two colors are opposite each other on the color wheel long used by painters. Vincent van Gogh, an avid student of color theory, used combinations of yellow and purple in several of his paintings for the maximum contrast and harmony. Hunt defines that "two colors are complementary when it is possible to reproduce the tristimulus values of a specified achromatic stimulus by an additive mixture of these two stimuli." That is, when two colored lights can be mixed to match a specified white (achromatic, non-colored) light, the colors of those two lights are
complementary A complement is something that completes something else. Complement may refer specifically to: The arts * Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave ** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-class ...
. This definition, however, does not constrain what version of white will be specified. In the nineteenth century, the scientists Grassmann and
Helmholtz Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz (31 August 1821 – 8 September 1894) was a German physicist and physician who made significant contributions in several scientific fields, particularly hydrodynamic stability. The Helmholtz Association, ...
did experiments in which they concluded that finding a good complement for spectral yellow was difficult, but that the result was indigo, that is, a wavelength that today's color scientists would call violet or purple. Helmholtz says "Yellow and indigo blue" are complements. Grassmann reconstructs Newton's category boundaries in terms of wavelengths and says "This indigo therefore falls within the limits of color between which, according to Helmholtz, the complementary colors of yellow lie." Newton's own color circle has yellow directly opposite the boundary between indigo and violet. These results, that the complement of yellow is a wavelength shorter than 450 nm, are derivable from the modern
CIE 1931 The CIE 1931 color spaces are the first defined quantitative links between distributions of wavelengths in the electromagnetic visible spectrum, and physiologically perceived colors in human color vision. The mathematical relationships that defin ...
system of colorimetry if it is assumed that the yellow is about 580 nm or shorter wavelength, and the specified white is the color of a blackbody radiator of temperature 2800 K or lower (that is, the white of an ordinary incandescent light bulb). More typically, with a daylight-colored or around 5000 to 6000 K white, the complement of yellow will be in the blue wavelength range, which is the standard modern answer for the complement of yellow. Because of the characteristics of paint pigments and use of different color wheels, painters traditionally regard the complement of yellow as the color indigo or blue-violet.


Lasers

Lasers emitting in the yellow part of the spectrum are less common and more expensive than most other colors. In commercial products diode pumped solid state ( DPSS) technology is employed to create the yellow light. An infrared laser diode at 808 nm is used to pump a crystal of neodymium-doped yttrium vanadium oxide (Nd:YVO4) or neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) and induces it to emit at two frequencies (281.76 THz and 223.39 THz: 1064 nm and 1342 nm wavelengths) simultaneously. This deeper infrared light is then passed through another crystal containing potassium, titanium and phosphorus (KTP), whose non-linear properties generate light at a frequency that is the sum of the two incident beams (505.15 THz); in this case corresponding to the wavelength of 593.5 nm ("yellow"). This wavelength is also available, though even more rarely, from a helium–neon laser. However, this not a true yellow, as it exceeds 590 nm. A variant of this same DPSS technology using slightly different starting frequencies was made available in 2010, producing a wavelength of 589 nm, which is considered a true yellow color. The use of yellow lasers at 589 nm and 594 nm have recently become more widespread thanks to the field of optogenetics.


Astronomy

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 ...
s of spectral classes F have color temperatures that make them look "yellowish". The first astronomer to classify stars according to their color was
F. G. W. Struve Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve (russian: link=no, Василий Яковлевич Струве, trans. ''Vasily Yakovlevich Struve''; 15 April 1793 – ) was a Baltic German astronomer and geodesist from the famous Struve family. He is best ...
in 1827. One of his classifications was , or yellow, and this roughly corresponded to stars in the modern spectral range F5 to K0. The Strömgren photometric system for stellar classification includes a 'y' or yellow filter that is centered at a wavelength of 550 nm and has a bandwidth of 20–30 nm.


Biology

Autumn
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 ...
, yellow flowers, bananas, oranges and other yellow fruits all contain
carotenoid Carotenoids (), also called tetraterpenoids, are yellow, orange, and red organic compound, organic pigments that are produced by plants and algae, as well as several bacteria, and Fungus, fungi. Carotenoids give the characteristic color to pumpki ...
s, yellow and red organic pigments that are found in the
chloroplast A chloroplast () is a type of membrane-bound organelle known as a plastid that conducts photosynthesis mostly in plant and algal cells. The photosynthetic pigment chlorophyll captures the energy from sunlight, converts it, and stores it in ...
s and chromoplasts of plants and some other
photosynthetic Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored in c ...
organisms like
algae 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. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...
, some bacteria and some fungi. They serve two key roles in plants and algae: they absorb light energy for use in photosynthesis, and they protect the green
chlorophyll Chlorophyll (also chlorophyl) is any of several related green pigments found in cyanobacteria and in the chloroplasts of algae and plants. Its name is derived from the Greek words , ("pale green") and , ("leaf"). Chlorophyll allow plants to a ...
from photodamage. In late summer, as
daylight Daylight is the combination of all direct and indirect sunlight during the daytime. This includes direct sunlight, diffuse sky radiation, and (often) both of these reflected by Earth and terrestrial objects, like landforms and buildings. Sunligh ...
hours shorten and temperatures cool, the veins that carry fluids into and out of the leaf are gradually closed off. The water and mineral intake into the leaf is reduced, slowly at first, and then more rapidly. It is during this time that the chlorophyll begins to decrease. As the chlorophyll diminishes, the yellow and red carotenoids become more and more visible, creating the classic autumn leaf color. Carotenoids are common in many living things; they give the characteristic color to carrots, maize, daffodils, rutabagas, buttercups and bananas. They are responsible for the red of cooked
lobster Lobsters are a family (biology), family (Nephropidae, Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs ...
s, the pink of
flamingoes Flamingos or flamingoes are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas (including the Caribbean) ...
and salmon and the yellow of canaries and
egg yolk Among animals which produce eggs, the yolk (; also known as the vitellus) is the nutrient-bearing portion of the egg whose primary function is to supply food for the development of the embryo. Some types of egg contain no yolk, for example bec ...
s. Xanthophylls are the most common yellow pigments that form one of two major divisions of the carotenoid group. The name is from Greek ''xanthos'' (, "yellow") + ''phyllon'' (, "leaf"). Xanthophylls are most commonly found in the leaves of green plants, but they also find their way into animals through the food they eat. For example, the yellow color of chicken egg yolks, fat, and skin comes from the feed the chickens consume. Chicken farmers understand this, and often add xanthophylls, usually lutein, to make the egg yolks more yellow. Bananas are green when they are picked because of the chlorophyll their skin contains. Once picked, they begin to ripen;
hormones A hormone (from the Ancient Greek, Greek participle , "setting in motion") is a class of cell signaling, signaling molecules in multicellular organisms that are sent to distant organs by complex biological processes to regulate physiology and beh ...
in the bananas convert amino acids into ethylene gas, which stimulates the production of several
enzymes Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecule ...
. These enzymes start to change the color, texture and flavor of the banana. The green chlorophyll supply is stopped and the yellow color of the carotenoids replaces it; eventually, as the enzymes continue their work, the cell walls break down and the bananas turn brown. File:Fall colors near the Eagle Lake trailhead.jpg, Autumn colors along the Eagle River near
Anchorage Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...
, Alaska File:Cornwall Daffodils.jpg,
Daffodils ''Narcissus'' is a genus of predominantly spring flowering perennial plant, perennial plants of the amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae. Various common names including daffodil,The word "daffodil" is also applied to related genera such as ''Ste ...
in Cornwall File:Bananas.jpg,
Banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...
s, like autumn
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 ...
, canaries and egg yolks, get their yellow color from natural pigments called carotenoids. File:Raw egg.jpg, The yolk of a raw egg. The color comes from the xanthophyll carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin File:Duckling chicks (Unsplash).jpg, Duckling chicks


Fish

* Yellowtail is the common name for dozens of different fish species that have yellow tails or a yellow body. Most of the time, yellowtail(fish) actually refers to Japanese amberjack, a fish that lives between Japan and Hawaii. * Yellowfin tuna (''Thunnus albacares'') is a species of tuna, having bright yellow anal and second dorsal fins. Found in tropical and subtropical seas and weighing up to , it is caught as a replacement for depleted stocks of bluefin tuna. * Smallmouth yellowfish (Labeobarbus aeneus) is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus Labeobarbus. It has become an invasive species in rivers of the Eastern Cape, South Africa, such as the Mbhashe River.


Insects

* The
yellow-fever mosquito ''Aedes aegypti'', the yellow fever mosquito, is a mosquito that can spread dengue fever, chikungunya, Zika fever, Mayaro and yellow fever viruses, and other disease agents. The mosquito can be recognized by black and white markings on its legs ...
(''Aedes aegypti'') is a mosquito so named because it transmits
dengue fever Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms typically begin three to fourteen days after infection. These may include a high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pains, and a characterist ...
and yellow fever, the mosquito-borne viruses. * Yellowjackets are black-and-yellow wasps of the genus ''Vespula'' or ''Dolichovespula'' (though some can be black-and-white, the most notable of these being the
bald-faced hornet ''Dolichovespula maculata'' is a species of wasp in the genus ''Dolichovespula'' and a member of the Eusociality, eusocial, cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan family Vespidae. It is known by many colloquial names, primarily bald-faced horn ...
, ''Dolichovespula maculata''). They can be identified by their distinctive black-and-yellow color, small size (slightly larger than a
bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyly, monophyletic lineage within the ...
), and entirely black antennae.


Trees

* Populus tremuloides is a deciduous tree native to cooler areas of North America, one of several species referred to by the common name aspen. ''Populus tremuloides'' is the most widely distributed tree in North America, being found from Canada to central Mexico. * The yellow birch (''Betula alleghaniensis'') is a birch species native to eastern North America, from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and southern Quebec west to Minnesota, and south in the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia. They are medium-sized deciduous trees and can reach about tall, trunks up to in diameter. The bark is smooth and yellow-bronze, and the wood is extensively used for flooring, cabinetry, and toothpicks. * The
Thorny Yellowwood ''Zanthoxylum brachyacanthum'', known as thorny yellow-wood, satinwood, satin tree or scrub mulga, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to north-eastern Australia. It is a rainforest shrub or tree with thick, cone ...
is an Australian rainforest tree which has deep yellow wood. * Yellow poplar is a common name for '' Liriodendron'', the
tuliptree ''Liriodendron'' () is a genus of two species of characteristically large trees, deciduous over most of their populations, in the magnolia family (Magnoliaceae). These trees are widely known by the common name tulip tree or tuliptree for their ...
. The common name is inaccurate as this genus is not related to poplars. * The ''
Handroanthus albus ''Handroanthus albus'', the golden trumpet tree, is a tree with yellow flowers native to Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and the Cerrado (tropical savannas) of Brazil, where it is known as . This plant is found in the Brazilian states of Distrito ...
'' is a tree with yellow flowers native to the Cerrado of Brazil.


History, art, and fashion


Prehistory

Yellow, in the form of yellow ochre pigment made from clay, was one of the first colors used in prehistoric cave art. The cave of Lascaux has an image of a horse colored with yellow estimated to be 17,300 years old.


Ancient history

In Ancient Egypt, yellow was associated with gold, which was considered to be imperishable, eternal and indestructible. The skin and bones of the gods were believed to be made of gold. The Egyptians used yellow extensively in tomb paintings; they usually used either yellow ochre or the brilliant orpiment, though it was made of arsenic and was highly toxic. A small paintbox with orpiment pigment was found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun. Men were always shown with brown faces, women with yellow ochre or gold faces. The ancient Romans used yellow in their paintings to represent gold and also in skin tones. It is found frequently 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 ...
. File:Lascaux2.jpg, Image of a horse colored with yellow ochre from Lascaux cave. File:Tomb of Nakht.jpg, Paintings in the Tomb of Nakht in ancient Egypt (15th century BC). File:Harfenspielerin Römisches Fresko.jpg, Yellow ochre was often used in wall paintings in Ancient Roman villas and towns. File:Mosaic of Justinianus I - Basilica San Vitale (Ravenna).jpg, Byzantine art made lavish use of gold, seen in this detail of the mosaic of the Emperor Justinian from the
Basilica of San Vitale The Basilica of San Vitale is a late antique church in Ravenna, Italy. The sixth-century church is an important surviving example of early Christian Byzantine art and architecture. It is one of eight structures in Ravenna inscribed on the UNESCO ...
in Ravenna, Italy (before 547 AD). File:Flag of Palaeologus Dynasty.svg, The flag of the Paleologus dynasty of Byzantine emperors was red and gold.


Post-classical history

During the Post-Classical period, yellow became firmly established as the color of Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus Christ, even though the Bible never describes his clothing. From this connection, yellow also took on associations with envy, jealousy and duplicity. The tradition started in the Renaissance of marking non-Christian outsiders, such as Jews, with the color yellow. In 16th-century Spain, those accused of heresy and who refused to renounce their views were compelled to come before the Spanish Inquisition dressed in a yellow cape. The color yellow has been historically associated with moneylenders and finance. The
National Pawnbrokers Association The National Pawnbrokers Association (NPA) is a USA-based trade association A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesse ...
's logo depicts three golden spheres hanging from a bar, referencing the three bags of gold that the patron saint of pawnbroking, St. Nicholas, holds in his hands. Additionally, the symbol of three golden orbs is found in the coat of arms of the House of Medici, a famous fifteenth-century Italian dynasty of bankers and lenders. File:Thomas Becket Murder.JPG, alt=Saffron was sometimes used as a pigment in Medieval manuscripts, such as this page showing the murder of Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. (Circa 1200)., Saffron was sometimes used as a pigment in Medieval manuscripts, such as this page showing the murder of Thomas Becket at
Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the ...
, 1200 File:Giotto - Scrovegni - -31- - Kiss of Judas.jpg, The ''Kiss of Judas'' (1304–06) by Giotto di Bondone, followed the Medieval tradition of clothing Judas Iscariot in a yellow toga. File:Young Man in a Yellow Robe c1630-1631 Jan Lievens.jpg, alt=Young Man in a Yellow Robe Jan Lievens, c. 1630–1631, ''Young Man in a Yellow Robe'' Jan Lievens, 1630–1631 File:Johannes Vermeer - Het melkmeisje - Google Art Project.jpg, alt=The Milkmaid by Johannes Vermeer (c. 1658), ''The Milkmaid'' by Johannes Vermeer, 1658


Modern history


18th and 19th centuries

The 18th and 19th century saw the discovery and manufacture of synthetic pigments and dyes, which quickly replaced the traditional yellows made from arsenic, cow urine, and other substances. Circa 1776, Jean-Honoré Fragonard painted '' A Young Girl Reading''. She is dressed in a bright saffron yellow dress. This painting is "considered by many critics to be among Fragonard's most appealing and masterly". The 19th-century British painter
J.M.W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbulen ...
was one of the first in that century to use yellow to create moods and emotions, the way romantic composers were using music. His painting ''Rain, Steam, and Speed – the Great Central Railway'' was dominated by glowing yellow clouds. Georges Seurat used the new synthetic colors in his experimental paintings composed of tiny points of primary colors, particularly in his famous ''Sunday Afternoon on the Isle de la Grand jatte'' (1884–86). He did not know that the new synthetic yellow pigment, zinc yellow or zinc chromate, which he used in the light green lawns, was highly unstable and would quickly turn brown. The painter Vincent van Gogh was a particular admirer of the color yellow, the color of sunshine. Writing to his sister from the south of France in 1888, he wrote, "Now we are having beautiful warm, windless weather that is very beneficial to me. The sun, a light that for lack of a better word I can only call yellow, bright sulfur yellow, pale lemon gold. How beautiful yellow is!" In Arles, Van Gogh painted sunflowers inside a small house he rented at 2 Place Lamartine, a house painted with a color that Van Gogh described as "buttery yellow". Van Gogh was one of the first artists to use commercially manufactured paints, rather than paints he made himself. He used the traditional yellow ochre, but also chrome yellow, first made in 1809; and
cadmium yellow Cadmium pigments are a class of pigments that contain cadmium. Most of the cadmium produced worldwide has been for use in rechargeable nickel–cadmium batteries, which have been replaced by other rechargeable nickel-chemistry cell varieties ...
, first made in 1820. At the end of the 19th century, in 1895, a new popular art form began to appear in New York newspapers; the color
comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...
. It took advantage of a new
color printing Color printing or colour printing is the reproduction of an image or text in color (as opposed to simpler black and white or monochrome printing). Any natural scene or color photograph can be optically and physiologically dissected into three ...
process, which used
color separation Color printing or colour printing is the reproduction of an image or text in color (as opposed to simpler black and white or monochrome printing). Any natural scene or color photograph can be optically and physiologically dissected into three ...
and three different colors of ink; magenta, cyan, and yellow, plus black, to create all the colors on the page. One of the first characters in the new comic strips was a humorous boy of the New York streets named Mickey Dugen, more commonly known as the Yellow Kid, from the yellow nightshirt he wore. He gave his name (and color) to the whole genre of popular, sensational journalism, which became known as " yellow journalism". File:Fragonard, The Reader.jpg, '' A Young Girl Reading'', or ''The Reader''. Jean-Honoré Fragonard, c. 1776, 32" x 25 1/2" National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. File:Turner - Rain, Steam and Speed - National Gallery file.jpg, '' Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway''. (1844). British painter
J.M.W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbulen ...
used yellow clouds to create a mood, the way romantic composers of the time used music. File:A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, Georges Seurat, 1884.png, Georges Seurat used a new pigment, zinc yellow, in the green lawns of ''
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte ''A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte'' (french: Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte) was painted from 1884 to 1886 and is Georges Seurat's most famous work. A leading example of pointillist technique, executed o ...
'' (1884–86). He did not know that the paint would quickly deteriorate and turn brown. File:Vincent Van Gogh 0010.jpg, '' Sunflowers'' (1888) by Vincent van Gogh is a fountain of yellows. File:YellowKid.jpeg, The Yellow Kid (1895) was one of the first
comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...
characters. He gave his name to type of sensational reporting called Yellow Journalism. File:Domenico Failutti - Retrato de Dona Leopoldina de Habsburgo e Seus Filhos, Acervo do Museu Paulista da USP.jpg, Empress Maria Leopoldina of Brazil with her children. File:Michael Ancher - Ung Pige - 1904.png, ''Young woman'' (Marie, from Skagen, Denmark) by
Michael Ancher Michael Peter Ancher (9 June 1849 – 19 September 1927) was a Danish realist artist, and widely known for his paintings of fishermen, the lakes, and other scenes from the Danish fishing community in Skagen. Early life and education Michael ...


20th and 21st centuries

In the 20th century, yellow was revived as a symbol of exclusion, as it had been in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Jews in Nazi Germany and German-occupied countries were required to sew yellow triangles with the star of David onto their clothing. In the 20th century, modernist painters reduced painting to its simplest colors and geometric shapes. The Dutch modernist painter
Piet Mondrian Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (), after 1906 known as Piet Mondrian (, also , ; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), was a Dutch painter and art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He is known for being ...
made a series of paintings which consisted of a pure white canvas with a grid of vertical and horizontal black lines and rectangles of yellow, red, and blue. Yellow was particularly valued in the 20th century because of its high visibility. Because of its ability to be seen well from greater distances and at high speeds, yellow makes for the ideal color to be viewed from moving automobiles. It often replaced red as the color of fire trucks and other emergency vehicles, and was popular in neon signs, especially in Las Vegas and in China, where yellow was the most esteemed color. In the 1960s, Pickett Brand developed the "Eye Saver Yellow" slide rule, which was produced with a specific yellow color (Angstrom 5600) that reflects long-wavelength rays and promotes optimum eye-ease to help prevent eyestrain and improve visual accuracy. The 21st century saw the use of unusual materials and technologies to create new ways of experiencing the color yellow. One example was ''The weather project'', by Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, which was installed in the open space of the Turbine Hall of London's Tate Modern in 2003. Eliasson used
humidifiers A humidifier is a device, primarily an electrical appliance, that increases humidity (moisture) in a single room or an entire building. In the home, point-of-use humidifiers are commonly used to humidify a single room, while whole-house or furnac ...
to create a fine mist in the air via a mixture of sugar and water, as well as a semi-circular disc made up of hundreds of
monochromatic A monochrome or monochromatic image, object or color scheme, palette is composed of one color (or lightness, values of one color). Images using only Tint, shade and tone, shades of grey are called grayscale (typically digital) or Black and wh ...
lamps which radiated yellow light. The ceiling of the hall was covered with a huge mirror, in which visitors could see themselves as tiny black shadows against a mass of light.Cynthia Zarin (13 November 2006)
Seeing Things. The art of Olafur Eliasson
''New Yorker''.
File:Yellow Room, Frieseke.jpg, Yellow Room, Frederick Carl Frieseke, 1910 File:Yellowstar.jpg, Jews in
Nazi-occupied Europe German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...
were required to wear yellow badges such as this. File:Horse&rider.jpg, Yellow was valued for its high visibility. Las Vegas became a showcase of
neon art Neon lighting consists of brightly glowing, electrified glass tubes or bulbs that contain rarefied neon or other gases. Neon lights are a type of cold cathode gas-discharge light. A neon tube is a sealed glass tube with a metal electrode a ...
and advertising. File:Palácio do Planalto Campanha Internacional Maio Amarelo.jpg, The Palácio do Planalto, official workplace of the President of Brazil, illuminated in yellow light.


Fruits, vegetables, and eggs

Many fruits are yellow when ripe, such as lemons and bananas, their color derived from
carotenoid Carotenoids (), also called tetraterpenoids, are yellow, orange, and red organic compound, organic pigments that are produced by plants and algae, as well as several bacteria, and Fungus, fungi. Carotenoids give the characteristic color to pumpki ...
pigments.
Egg yolk Among animals which produce eggs, the yolk (; also known as the vitellus) is the nutrient-bearing portion of the egg whose primary function is to supply food for the development of the embryo. Some types of egg contain no yolk, for example bec ...
s gain their color from xanthophylls, also a type of carotenoid pigment.


Flowers

Yellow is a common color of flowers. File:Mimosa Colombe d'Or Saint Paul de Vence.JPG, '' Acacia dealbata'' (silver wattle) File:Cassia bicapsularis (1).jpg, ''
Senna bicapsularis ''Senna bicapsularis'' is a species of the legume genus '' Senna'', native to northern South America, from Panama south to Venezuela and Colombia, and also the West Indies. Common names include rambling senna (formerly "cassia"), winter cassia, ...
'' (rambling senna) File:Narcissus pseudonarcissus flower 300303.jpg,
Narcissus pseudonarcissus ''Narcissus pseudonarcissus'' (commonly known as wild daffodil or Lent lily) (Welsh: Cennin Pedr) is a perennial flowering plant. This species has pale yellow tepals, with a darker central trumpet. The long, narrow leaves are slightly greyis ...
, or Daffodil File:Mother and daughter edit.jpg, '' Anthemis tinctoria''
(golden marguerite) File:Anthyllis vulneraria, AlpenWundklee 1.JPG, '' Anthyllis vulneraria'' (common kidneyvetch) File:Yellow Marigold Tennessee.jpg, '' Tagetes erecta'' (Mexican marigold) File:Senecio angulatus.jpg, '' Senecio angulatus'' (creeping groundsel) File:Brugmansia aurea 12.jpg, '' Brugmansia aurea'' (angel's trumpet)


Other plants

* Rapeseed (Brassica napus), also known as rape or oilseed rape, is a bright yellow flowering member of the family ''Brassicaceae'' (mustard or cabbage family). * Goldenrod is a yellow flowering plant in the family '' Asteraceae''.


Minerals and chemistry

* Yellowcake (also known as urania and uranic oxide) is concentrated uranium oxide, obtained through the milling of uranium ore. Yellowcake is used in the preparation of fuel for nuclear reactors and in uranium enrichment, one of the essential steps for creating nuclear weapons. * Titan yellow (also known as clayton yellow), chemical formula has been used to determine magnesium in
serum Serum may refer to: *Serum (blood), plasma from which the clotting proteins have been removed **Antiserum, blood serum with specific antibodies for passive immunity * Serous fluid, any clear bodily fluid * Truth serum, a drug that is likely to mak ...
and urine, but the method is prone to interference, making the
ammonium phosphate Ammonium phosphate is the inorganic compound with the formula (NH4)3PO4. It is the ammonium salt of orthophosphoric acid. A related "double salt", (NH4)3PO4.(NH4)2HPO4 is also recognized but is impractical use. Both triammonium salts evolve ammoni ...
method superior when analysing blood cells, food or fecal material. *
Methyl yellow Methyl yellow, or C.I. 11020, is an organic compound with the formula C6H5N2C6H4N(CH3)2. It is an azo dye derived from dimethylaniline. It is a yellow solid. According to X-ray crystallography, the C14N3 core of the molecule is planar. It is u ...
(''p''-dimethylaminoazobenzene) is a pH indicator used to determine acidity. It changes from yellow at pH 4.0 to red at pH 2.9. * Yellow fireworks are produced by adding sodium compounds to the firework mixture. Sodium has a strong emission at 589.3 nm ( D-line), a very slightly orange-tinted yellow. * Amongst the
elements Element or elements may refer to: Science * Chemical element, a pure substance of one type of atom * Heating element, a device that generates heat by electrical resistance * Orbital elements, parameters required to identify a specific orbit of ...
,
sulfur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...
and gold are most obviously yellow. Phosphorus, arsenic and antimony have
allotrope Allotropy or allotropism () is the property of some chemical elements to exist in two or more different forms, in the same physical state, known as allotropes of the elements. Allotropes are different structural modifications of an element: the ...
s which are yellow or whitish-yellow;
fluorine Fluorine is a chemical element with the symbol F and atomic number 9. It is the lightest halogen and exists at standard conditions as a highly toxic, pale yellow diatomic gas. As the most electronegative reactive element, it is extremely reacti ...
and chlorine are pale yellowish gases.


Pigments

* Yellow ochre (also known as Mars yellow, Pigment yellow 42, 43), hydrated ferric oxide (), is a naturally occurring pigment found in clays in many parts of the world. It is non-toxic and has been used in painting since prehistoric times. *
Indian yellow Indian yellow is a complex pigment consisting primarily of euxanthic acid salts (magnesium euxanthate and calcium euxanthate), euxanthone and sulphonated euxanthone. It is also known as purree, snowshoe yellow, gaugoli, gogili, Hardwari peori, M ...
is a transparent, fluorescent pigment used in oil paintings and watercolors. Originally magnesium euxanthate, it was claimed to have been produced from the urine of Indian cows fed only on mango leaves. It has now been replaced by synthetic Indian yellow hue. * Naples Yellow (lead antimonate yellow) is one of the oldest synthetic pigments, derived from the mineral
bindheimite __TOC__ B Ba # Babánekite (vivianite: IMA2012-007) 8.CE o o(IUPAC: tricopper diarsenate octahydrate) #Babefphite (IMA1966-003) 8.BA.1
and used extensively up to the 20th century. It is toxic and nowadays is replaced in paint by a mixture of modern pigments. * Cadmium pigments, Cadmium Yellow ( cadmium sulfide, CdS) has been used in artists' paints since the mid-19th century. Because of its toxicity, it may nowadays be replaced by
azo pigments 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 ...
. * Chrome yellow (lead chromate, ), derived from the mineral crocoite, was used by artists in the earlier part of the 19th century, but has been largely replaced by other yellow pigments because of the toxicity of lead. * Zinc yellow or zinc chromate is a synthetic pigment made in the 19th century, and used by the painter Georges Seurat in his
pointilist Pointillism (, ) is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image. Georges Seurat and Paul Signac developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism. The term "Pointillism" wa ...
paintings. He did not know that it was highly unstable, and would quickly turn brown. *
Titanium yellow Titanium yellow, also nickel antimony titanium yellow, nickel antimony titanium yellow rutile, CI Pigment Yellow 53, or C.I. 77788, is a yellow pigment with the chemical composition of NiO· Sb2O3·20 TiO2. It is a complex inorganic compound. Its ...
(nickel antimony titanium yellow rutile, ) is created by adding small amounts of the oxides of nickel and antimony to titanium dioxide and heating. It is used to produce yellow paints with good white coverage and has the LBNL paint code "Y10". * Gamboge is an orange-brown resin, derived from trees of the genus Garcinia, which becomes yellow when powdered. It was used as a watercolor pigment in the far east from the 8th century – the name "gamboge" is derived from " Cambodia" – and has been used in Europe since the 17th century. * Orpiment, also called King's Yellow or Chinese Yellow is arsenic trisulfide () and was used as a paint pigment until the 19th century when, because of its high toxicity and reaction with lead-based pigments, it was generally replaced by Cadmium Yellow. *
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 ...
-based pigment (a brightly colored transparent or semitransparent dye with a white pigment) is used as the colorant in most modern paints requiring either a highly saturated yellow or simplicity of color mixing. The most common is the monoazo arylide yellow family, first marketed as Hansa Yellow.


Dyes

* Curcuma longa, also known as turmeric, is a plant grown in India and Southeast Asia which serves as a dye for clothing, especially monks' robes; as a spice for curry and other dishes; and as a popular medicine. It is also used as a food coloring for mustard and other products. * Saffron, like turmeric, is one of the rare dyes that is also a spice and food colorant. It is made from the dried red stigma of the crocus sativus flower. It must be picked by hand and it takes 150 flowers to obtain a single gram of stigma, so it is extremely expensive. It probably originated in the Mediterranean or Southwest Asia, and its use was detailed in a 7th-century BC Assyrian botanical reference compiled under
Ashurbanipal Ashurbanipal (Neo-Assyrian language, Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , meaning "Ashur (god), Ashur is the creator of the heir") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 669 BCE to his death in 631. He is generally remembered as the last great king o ...
. It was known in India at the time of the Buddha, and after his death his followers decreed that monks should wear robes the color of saffron. Saffron was used to dye the robes of the senior Buddhist monks, while ordinary monks wore robes dyed with Gamboge or Curcuma longa, also known as Turmeric. The color of saffron comes from
crocin Crocin is a carotenoid chemical compound that is found in the flowers of crocus and gardenia. Crocin is the chemical primarily responsible for the color of saffron. Chemically, crocin is the diester formed from the disaccharide gentiobiose and ...
, a red variety of
carotenoid Carotenoids (), also called tetraterpenoids, are yellow, orange, and red organic compound, organic pigments that are produced by plants and algae, as well as several bacteria, and Fungus, fungi. Carotenoids give the characteristic color to pumpki ...
natural pigment. The color of the dyed fabric varies from deep red to orange to yellow, depending upon the type of saffron and the process. Most saffron today comes from Iran, but it is also grown commercially in Spain, Italy and Kashmir in India, and as a boutique crop in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland and other countries. In the United States, it has been cultivated by the
Pennsylvania Dutch The Pennsylvania Dutch ( Pennsylvania Dutch: ), also known as Pennsylvania Germans, are a cultural group formed by German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. They emigrated primarily from German-spe ...
community since the early 18th century. Because of the high price of saffron, other similar dyes and spices are often sold under the name saffron; for instance, what is called ''Indian saffron'' is often really turmeric. *
Reseda luteola ''Reseda luteola'' is a plant species in the genus '' Reseda''. Common names include dyer's rocket, dyer's weed, weld, woold, and yellow weed. A native of Europe and Western Asia, the plant can be found in North America as an introduced species an ...
, also known as dyers weed, yellow weed or weld, has been used as a yellow dye from neolithic times. It grew wild along the roads and walls of Europe, and was introduced into North America, where it grows as a weed. It was used as both as a yellow dye, whose color was deep and lasting, and to dye fabric green, first by dyeing it blue with indigo, then dyeing it with reseda luteola to turn it a rich, solid and lasting green. It was the most common yellow dye in Europe from the Middle Ages until the 18th century, when it was replaced first by the bark of the quercitron tree from North America, then by synthetic dyes. It was also widely used in North Africa and in the Ottoman Empire. * Gamboge is a deep saffron to mustard yellow pigment and dye. In Asia, it is frequently used to dye Buddhist monks' robes. Gamboge is most often extracted by tapping resin from various species of evergreen trees of the family ''
Guttiferae The Clusiaceae or Guttiferae Juss. (1789) (''nom. alt. et cons.'' = alternative and valid name) are a family of plants including 13 genera and ca 750 species. Several former members of Clusiacae are now placed in Calophyllaceae and Hypericacea ...
'', which grow in Cambodia, Thailand, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. "Kambuj" ( Sanskrit: कंबुज) is the ancient Sanskrit name for Cambodia. File:Orpiment mineral.jpg, Orpiment was a source of yellow pigment from ancient Egypt through the 19th century, though it is highly toxic. File:Indisch-Gelb.jpg,
Indian yellow Indian yellow is a complex pigment consisting primarily of euxanthic acid salts (magnesium euxanthate and calcium euxanthate), euxanthone and sulphonated euxanthone. It is also known as purree, snowshoe yellow, gaugoli, gogili, Hardwari peori, M ...
pigment File:Lead chromate.JPG, Chrome yellow was discovered in 1809. File:Saffran crocus sativus moist.jpg, The dye and spice saffron comes from the dried red stigma of this plant, the crocus sativus. File:Curcuma longa roots.jpg, Curcuma longa, also known as Turmeric, has been used for centuries in India as a dye, particularly for monk's robes. it is also commonly used as a medicine and as a spice in Indian cooking. File:Reseda luteola (Flowers).jpg,
Reseda luteola ''Reseda luteola'' is a plant species in the genus '' Reseda''. Common names include dyer's rocket, dyer's weed, weld, woold, and yellow weed. A native of Europe and Western Asia, the plant can be found in North America as an introduced species an ...
, also known as dyers weed, yellow weed or weld, was the most popular source of yellow dye in Europe from the Middle Ages through the 18th century. File:Garcinia subelliptica (200703).jpg, The Garcinia tree of Southeast Asia, whose resin is used to make the yellow dye called gamboge.


Food coloring

The most common yellow food coloring in use today is called Tartrazine. It is a synthetic lemon yellow
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 ...
. It is also known as
E number E numbers ("E" stands for "Europe") are codes for substances used as food additives, including those found naturally in many foods such as vitamin C, for use within the European Union (EU) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Commonly ...
E102, C.I. 19140,
FD&C The United States Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (abbreviated as FFDCA, FDCA, or FD&C) is a set of laws passed by the United States Congress in 1938 giving authority to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to oversee the safety of f ...
yellow 5, acid yellow 23, food yellow 4, and trisodium 1-(4-sulfonatophenyl)-4-(4-sulfonatophenylazo)-5-pyrazolone-3-carboxylate. It is the yellow most frequently used such processed food products as corn and potato chips, breakfast cereals such as corn flakes, candies, popcorn, mustard, jams and jellies, gelatin, soft drinks (notably
Mountain Dew Mountain Dew, stylized as Mtn Dew, is a carbonated soft drink brand produced and owned by PepsiCo. The original formula was invented in 1940 by Tennessee beverage bottlers Barney and Ally Hartman. A revised formula was created by Bill Brid ...
), energy and sports drinks, and pastries. It is also widely used in liquid and bar soap, shampoo, cosmetics and medicines. Sometimes it is mixed with blue dyes to color processed products green. It is typically labelled on food packages as "color", "tartrazine", or "E102". In the United States, because of concerns about possible health problems related to intolerance to tartrazine, its presence must be declared on food and drug product labels. Another popular synthetic yellow coloring is Sunset Yellow FCF (also known as ''orange yellow S'', ''FD&C yellow 6'' and ''C.I. 15985'') It is manufactured from aromatic hydrocarbons from petroleum. When added to foods sold in Europe, it is denoted by E number E110.


Symbolism and associations

In the west, yellow is not a well-loved color; in a 2000 survey, only six percent of respondents in Europe and America named it as their favorite color. compared with 45 percent for blue, 15 percent for green, 12 percent for red, and 10 percent for black. For seven percent of respondents, it was their least favorite color.Eva Heller (2000), ''Psychologie de la couleur – effets et symboliques'', p. 33. Yellow is the color of ambivalence and contradiction; the color associated with optimism and amusement; but also with betrayal, duplicity, and jealousy. But in China and other parts of Asia, yellow is a color of virtue and nobility.


In China

Yellow has strong historical and cultural associations in China, where it is the color of happiness, glory, and wisdom. In China, there are five directions of the compass; north, south, east, west, and the middle, each with a symbolic color. Yellow signifies the middle. China is called the Middle Kingdom; the palace of the Emperor was considered to be in the exact center of the world.Eva Heller (2000), ''Psychologie de la couleur – effets et symboliques'', p. 82. The legendary first emperor of China was called the Yellow Emperor. The last emperor of China, Puyi (1906–67), described in his memoirs how every object which surrounded him as a child was yellow. "It made me understand from my most tender age that I was of a unique essence, and it instilled in me the consciousness of my 'celestial nature' which made me different from every other human." The Chinese Emperor was literally considered the child of heaven, with both a political and religious role, both symbolized by yellow. After the Song dynasty, bright yellow color can only be worn by the emperor. Distinguished visitors were honored with a yellow, not a red, carpet. In Chinese symbolism, yellow, red and green are masculine colors, while black and white are considered feminine. In the traditional symbolism of the two opposites which complement each other, the yin and yang, the masculine yang is traditionally represented by yellow. Just as there are five elements, five directions and five colors in the Chinese world-view, there are also five seasons; summer, winter, fall, spring, and the end of summer, symbolized by yellow leaves. In current Chinese pop culture, the term "yellow movie" (黃色電影) refers to films and other cultural items of a pornographic nature and is analogous to the English term "
blue movie ''Blue Movie'' (also known as ''Fuck'') is a 1969 American erotic film written, produced and directed by Andy Warhol. It is the first adult erotic film depicting explicit sex to receive wide theatrical release in the United States, and is re ...
". In 2007, this became the basis of the '
very erotic very violent Very erotic very violent () is a Chinese internet meme that originated from a news report on China Central Television's flagship ''Xinwen Lianbo'' program, allegedly quoting a schoolgirl describing a web page. This incident was widely parodied ...
' (literally, 'very yellow very violent') controversy in mainland China. File:Portrait assis de l'empereur Jiajing.jpg, Portrait of the Jiajing Emperor from the Ming dynasty. File:乾隆皇帝老年肖像.jpg, The
Qianlong Emperor The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, born Hongli, was the fifth Emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1735 t ...
in court dress (18th century). File:Imperial Yellow Peking Glass Vase Closeup.jpg, Daoguang period Peking glass vase. The color is named "Imperial Yellow" after the banner of the Qing Dynasty. File:20090528 Beijing Forbidden City 8074.jpg, Yellow roofs in the Forbidden City, which are limited to imperial buildings. File:Shanghainanjingroadpic1.jpg, Neon lights in modern Shanghai show a predominance of red and yellow.


Light and reason

Yellow, as the color of sunlight when sun is near the horizon, is commonly associated with warmth. Yellow combined with red symbolized heat and energy. A room painted yellow feels warmer than a room painted white, and a lamp with yellow light seems more natural than a lamp with white light. As the color of light, yellow is also associated with knowledge and wisdom. In English and many other languages, "brilliant" and "bright" mean intelligent. In
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
, the yellow color of gold symbolizes wisdom. In medieval European symbolism, red symbolized passion, blue symbolized the spiritual, and yellow symbolized reason. In many European universities, yellow gowns and caps are worn by members of the faculty of physical and natural sciences, as yellow is the color of reason and research.


Gold and blond

In ancient Greece and Rome, the gods were often depicted with yellow, or blonde hair, which was described in literature as 'golden'. The color yellow was associated with the sun gods
Helios In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Helios (; grc, , , Sun; Homeric Greek: ) is the deity, god and personification of the Sun (Solar deity). His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyper ...
and Apollo. It was fashionable in ancient Greece for men and women to dye their hair yellow, or to spend time in the sun to bleach it.Eva Heller (2000), ''Psychologie de la couleur – effets et symboliques'', p. 73. In ancient Rome, prostitutes were required to bleach their hair, to be easily identified, but it also became a fashionable hair color for aristocratic women, influenced by the exotic blonde hair of many of the newly conquered slaves from Gaul, Britain, and Germany. However, in medieval Europe and later, the word yellow often had negative connotations; associated with betrayal, so yellow hair was more poetically called 'blond,' 'light', 'fair,' or most often "golden".


Visibility and caution

Yellow is the most visible color from a distance, so it is often used for objects that need to be seen, such as fire engines, road maintenance equipment, school buses and taxicabs. It is also often used for warning signs, since yellow traditionally signals caution, rather than danger.
Safety yellow Varieties of the color yellow may differ in hue, chroma (also called saturation, intensity, or colorfulness) or lightness (or value, tone, or brightness), or in two or three of these qualities. Variations in value are also called tints and ...
is often used for safety and accident prevention information. A yellow light on a traffic signal means slow down, but not stop. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) uses Pantone 116 (a yellow hue) as their standard color implying "general warning", while the Federal Highway Administration similarly uses yellow to communicate warning or caution on highway signage. A yellow
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 ...
in a soccer match means warning, but not expulsion. File:Thomas SafTLiner C2 RF.jpg, In North America, school buses such as this one in
Albemarle County, Virginia Albemarle County is a county located in the Piedmont region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Its county seat is Charlottesville, which is an independent city and enclave entirely surrounded by the county. Albemarle County is part of the Char ...
are required to be painted yellow. File:Gelber Briefkasten der Deutschen Post.JPG, A mailbox in Germany. Yellow was the color of the early postal service in the Habsburg Empire. File:Crashtender BC.jpg, A crash tender of the Royal Danish Air Force. File:Sea King HAR3 XZ585 at RIAT 2010 arp.jpg, An RAF Sea King rescue helicopter. File:Massimo Busacca, Referee, Switzerland (10).jpg, Yellow
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 ...
used during an association football match


Optimism and pleasure

Yellow is the color most associated with optimism and
pleasure Pleasure refers to experience that feels good, that involves the enjoyment of something. It contrasts with pain or suffering, which are forms of feeling bad. It is closely related to value, desire and action: humans and other conscious anima ...
; it is a color designed to attract attention, and is used for amusement. Yellow dresses in fashion are rare, but always associated with gaiety and celebration. File:L'impératrice Eugénie à la Marie-Antoinette, 1854, Franz Xaver Winterhalter.jpg, The
Empress Eugenie An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( e ...
dressed as
Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...
, painted by Franz Winterhalter (1854) File:Kuznetsova by Repin.jpg, ''Portrait of Madame Kuznetsova'', by
Ilya Repin Ilya Yefimovich Repin (russian: Илья Ефимович Репин, translit=Il'ya Yefimovich Repin, p=ˈrʲepʲɪn); fi, Ilja Jefimovitš Repin ( – 29 September 1930) was a Russian painter, born in what is now Ukraine. He became one of the ...
. (1901) File:James Tissot - The Ball.jpg, ''The Ball'' by James Tissot (1880) File:Basil Soda Yellow Dress - Paris Haute Couture Spring-Summer 2012.jpg, Yellow Dress – Paris Haute Couture Spring-Summer File:Flickr - dalbera - Danseuses de Kuchipudi (musée Guimet).jpg,
Kuchipudi Kuchipudi () ( Telugu: ) is one of the eight major Indian classical dances. It originates from a village named Kuchipudi in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Kuchipudi is a dance-drama performance, with its roots in the ancient Hindu Sa ...
dancers File:Kylie Minogue IMG 4379.JPG, Singer
Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinve ...
performs at a Nobel Prize Concert


Mayan and Italian

The ancient Maya associated the color yellow with the direction South. The Maya glyph for "yellow" (k'an) also means "precious" or "ripe". " Giallo", in Italian, refers to crime stories, both fictional and real. This association began in about 1930, when the first series of crime novels published in Italy had yellow covers.


Music

* The Beatles 1966 album ''
Revolver A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six roun ...
'' features the No. 1 hit, " Yellow Submarine". Subsequently, United Artists released an animated film in 1968 called '' Yellow Submarine'', based on the music of the Beatles. * The March 1967 album by
Donovan Donovan Phillips Leitch (born 10 May 1946), known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter, and record producer. He developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelic rock and world mus ...
called ''
Mellow Yellow "Mellow Yellow" is a song written and recorded by Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. In the US, it reached No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Outside the US, "Mellow Yellow" peaked at No. 8 in the UK in early 1967. Content The song was ru ...
'' reached number 2 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' charts in 1966 and number 8 in the UK in early 1967. The song of the same name popularized a widely-held belief that it was possible to get high by smoking scrapings from the inside of banana peels. This rumor was actually started in 1966 by
Country Joe McDonald Joseph Allen "Country Joe" McDonald (born January 1, 1942) is an American musician who was the lead singer of the 1960s psychedelic rock group Country Joe and the Fish.Richard Brenneman"Country Joe McDonald Revives Anti-War Anthem", ''Berkeley ...
. * Coldplay achieved worldwide fame with their 2000 single " Yellow". * " Yellow River" is a song recorded by the British band Christie in 1970. * The '' Yellow River Piano Concerto'' is a
piano concerto A piano concerto is a type of concerto, a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for a piano player, which is typically accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuoso showpiec ...
arranged by a collaboration between musicians including Yin Chengzong and Chu Wanghua. Its premiere was in 1969 during the Cultural Revolution.


Politics

* Yellow as a political color is most commonly associated with liberalism,
libertarianism Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's en ...
and
anarcho-capitalism Anarcho-capitalism (or, colloquially, ancap) is an anti-statist, libertarian, and anti-political philosophy and economic theory that seeks to abolish centralized states in favor of stateless societies with systems of private property enforce ...
. Contemporary political parties using yellow include the Liberal Democrats and UKIP in the United Kingdom, SNP in Scotland and Libertarian Party in the United States. * In the United States, a yellow dog Democrat was a
Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...
voter who consistently voted for
Democratic Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...
candidates in the late 19th and early 20th centuries because of lingering resentment against the
Republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
dating back to the Civil War and Reconstruction period. Today the term refers to a hard-core Democrat, supposedly referring to a person who would vote for a "yellow dog" before voting for a Republican. * In China the
Yellow Turbans The Yellow Turban Rebellion, alternatively translated as the Yellow Scarves Rebellion, was a peasant revolt in China against the Eastern Han dynasty. The uprising broke out in 184 CE during the reign of Emperor Ling. Although the main rebelli ...
were a Daoist sect that staged an extensive
rebellion Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...
during the Han dynasty. * The 1986 People Power Revolution in the Philippines was also known as the Yellow Revolution due to the presence of yellow ribbons during the demonstrations. Liberal and pro-democracy political parties and organizations such as UNIDO, PDP-Laban, and the Liberal Party have used the color yellow. More recently, it has become a pejorative term used by some pro-Ferdinand Marcos and pro-Rodrigo Duterte against the opposition. * In France in November and December 2018, an opposition movement called the Yellow Vests went into the streets to protest against the fiscal policies of President
Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017. ''Ex officio'', he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. Prior to his presidency, Macron served as Minister of Econ ...
. They wore yellow safety vests, which French motorists are required by law to have in their cars.


Selected national and international flags

Three of the five most populous countries in the world (China and Brazil) have yellow or gold in their flag, representing about half of the world's population. While many flags use yellow, their symbolism varies widely, from civic virtue to golden treasure, golden fields, the desert, royalty, the keys to Heaven and the leadership of the Communist Party. In classic European
heraldry Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branch ...
, yellow, along with white, is one of the two metals (called gold and silver) and therefore flags following heraldic design rules must use either yellow or white to separate any of their other colors (see the
rule of tincture The most basic rule of heraldic design is the rule of tincture: metal should not be put on metal, nor colour on colour (Humphrey Llwyd, 1568). This means that the heraldic metals or and argent (gold and silver, represented by yellow and white) s ...
and
insignia An insignia () is a sign or mark distinguishing a group, grade, rank, or function. It can be a symbol of personal power or that of an official group or governing body. On its own, an insignia is a sign of a specific or general authority and is ...
). File:Flag of Belgium.svg,
Flag of Belgium The national flag of Belgium ( nl, vlag van België, french: drapeau de la Belgique, german: Flagge Belgiens) is a tricolour consisting of three equal vertical bands displaying the national colours of Belgium: black, yellow, and red. The colours ...
(1831). The yellow comes from the yellow lion in the coat of arms of the Duchy of Brabant, founded in 1183–84. File:Flag of Bhutan.svg, Flag of Bhutan (1956). The Bhutan flag features Druk, the thunder dragon of Bhutanese mythology. The yellow represents civic tradition, the red the Buddhist spiritual tradition. File:Flag of Brazil.svg, Flag of Brazil (1889). The yellow color was inherited from the flag of the Empire of Brazil (1822–1889), where it represented the color of the House of Habsburg. File:Flag of Brunei.svg, Flag of Brunei (1956). In Southeast Asia yellow is the color of royalty. it is the color of the
Sultan of Brunei The sultan of Brunei is the monarchical head of state of Brunei and head of government in his capacity as prime minister of Brunei. Since independence from the British in 1984, only one sultan has reigned, though the royal institution dates bac ...
, and also appears on the flag of Thailand and of Malaysia. File:Flag of Chad.svg, Flag of Chad (1959). The color yellow here represents the sun and the desert in the north of the country. This flag is identical to that of Romania, except that it uses a slightly darker indigo blue rather than cobalt blue. File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg, Flag of the People's Republic of China (1949). The four small gold stars represent the workers, peasants, urban middle class, and rural middle class. The large star represents the Chinese Communist Party. File:Flag of Colombia.svg, Flag of Colombia. The asymmetric design of the flag is based on the old
Flag of Gran Colombia The flag of Gran Colombia was based on Francisco de Miranda's tricolour, which served as the national flag of the First Republic of Venezuela. The general design of the Gran Colombian flag later served as the model for the current flags of Colombi ...
. The yellow color represents the golden treasure taken from Colombia over the centuries. File:Flag of Germany.svg, Flag of Germany. Black, red and yellow were the colors of the
Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...
, and, in 1919, of the German Weimar Republic. The modern German flag was adopted in 1949. File:Flag of India.svg,
Flag of India The national flag of India, Colloquialism, colloquially called the tricolour, is a horizontal rectangular tricolour flag of Saffron (color)#India saffron, India saffron, white and Variations of green#India green, India green; with the ', a 24 ...
(1947). The yellow color is officially called India saffron, and represents courage and sacrifice. File:Flag of Jamaica.svg, Flag of Jamaica (1962). It is currently the only national flag that does not contain a shade of the colors red, white, or blue. File:Flag of Lithuania.svg, Flag of Lithuania (1918 to 1940, restored in 1989, modified in 2004). Yellow represents the sun, light and goodness. File:Flag of Malaysia.svg, Flag of Malaysia (original version, 1950, current version 1963.) The yellow crescent represents Islam, the yellow star the unity of the fourteen states of Malaysia. The red and white stripes (like the stripes on the U.S. flag) are adopted from the flag of the British East India Company. File:Flag of Mozambique.svg, Flag of Mozambique (1983). The colors are those of the Marxist Liberation Front of Mozambique, or FRELIMO, which rules the country. Yellow represents the country's mineral wealth. File:Flag of the Philippines.svg, Flag of the Philippines (1898). The yellow sun is in the middle of the triangle shape. File:Flag of Romania.svg,
Flag of Romania The national flag of Romania ( ro, drapelul României) is a tricolour. The Constitution of Romania states that "The flag of Romania is tricolour; the colours are arranged vertically in the following order from the flagpole: blue, yellow, red". ...
(1848, and again in 1989, after the fall of the Communist regime.) Blue, yellow and red were the colors of the Wallachian uprising of 1821, and the 1848 revolution. Yellow represents justice. File:Flag of Spain.svg,
Flag of Spain The national flag of Spain ( es, Bandera de España), as it is defined in the Constitution of 1978, consists of three horizontal stripes: red, yellow and red, the yellow stripe being twice the size of each red stripe. Traditionally, the middle ...
(1978). The yellow in the Spanish flag comes from the traditional Crown of Castille and the Crown of Aragon. The general design was adopted in 1785 for the Spanish Navy, to be visible from a great distance at sea. File:Flag of Sweden.svg, Flag of Sweden (adopted 1906, but colors in use since at least the mid-16th century). The legend says that in 1157, during the First Swedish Crusade, the Swedish king
Eric the Holy Eric IX, (Swedish: ''Erik Jedvardsson; Erik den helige; Sankt Erik''; d. 18 May 1160) also called Eric the Holy, Saint Eric, and Eric the Lawgiver, was a Swedish king in the 12th century, 1156–1160. The ''Roman Martyrology'' of the Catholic C ...
saw a golden cross appear in the blue sky. File:Flag of Ukraine.svg, Flag of Ukraine (1992 (originally in 1918)). File:Flag of the Vatican City.svg,
Flag of Vatican City The flag of Vatican City was adopted on 7 June 1929, the year Pope Pius XI signed the Lateran Treaty with Italy, creating a new independent state governed by the Holy See. The Vatican City flag is modeled on the 1808 yellow and white flag of the ...
(1929). The yellow color represents the golden key of the Kingdom of heaven, described in the Book of Matthew of the New Testament, and part of the Papal seal on the flag. File:Flag of Vietnam.svg, Flag of Vietnam (1955). The big gold star represents five main classes (laborers, soldiers, peasants, intellectuals and bourgeois).


Defunct flags

File:Heiliges Römisches Reich - Reichssturmfahne vor 1433.svg, The banner of the Holy Roman Empire (15th century). The black, yellow and red colors reappeared first in 1848 and then in the 20th century in the German flag. File:Flag of the Gran Colombia (1819-1820).svg, (1819) The flag of Gran Colombia, which won independence from Spain, then broke into three countries (
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 ...
, Venezuela and Ecuador) in 1830. File:Flag of the Qing Dynasty (1889-1912).svg, Imperial flag of the Qing dynasty, China (1890–1912), the last dynasty of China, overthrown by the Xinhai Revolution of 1911. File:Flag of South Vietnam.svg, Flag of
South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
(1955–75). This was the flag of the anti-communist southern part of Vietnam during the Vietnam War. It was replaced by the flag of North Vietnam after communist forces took
Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...
on 30 April 1975. File:Flag of East Germany.svg, The flag of East Germany (1959–90). It differs from the West German flag by the presence of a communist symbol in the center, and it fell out of use when Germany was reunified after the fall of the
Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...
.


Religion

* In Buddhism, the saffron colors of robes to be worn by monks were defined by the Buddha himself and his followers in the 5th century BCE. The robe and its color is a sign of renunciation of the outside world and commitment to the order. The candidate monk, with his master, first appears before the monks of the monastery in his own clothes, with his new robe under his arm, and asks to enter the order. He then takes his vows, puts on the robes, and with his begging bowl, goes out to the world. Thereafter, he spends his mornings begging and his afternoons in contemplation and study, either in a forest, garden, or in the monastery.Henri Arvon (1951). ''Le bouddhisme'', pp. 61–64. According to Buddhist scriptures and commentaries, the robe dye is allowed to be obtained from six kinds of substances: roots and tubers, plants, bark, leaves, flowers and fruits. The robes should also be boiled in water a long time to get the correctly sober color. Saffron and ochre, usually made with dye from the curcuma longa plant or the heartwood of the jackfruit tree, are the most common colors. The so-called forest monks usually wear ochre robes and city monks saffron, though this is not an official rule. The color of robes also varies somewhat among the different "vehicles", or schools of Buddhism, and by country, depending on their doctrines and the dyes available. The monks of the strict Vajrayana, or
Tantric Buddhism Vajrayāna ( sa, वज्रयान, "thunderbolt vehicle", "diamond vehicle", or "indestructible vehicle"), along with Mantrayāna, Guhyamantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, are names referring t ...
, practiced in Tibet, wear the most colorful robes of saffron and red. The monks of
Mahayana Buddhism ''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing bra ...
, practiced mainly in Japan, China and Korea, wear lighter yellow or saffron, often with white or black. Monks of
Hinayana Buddhism Hīnayāna (, ) is a Sanskrit term literally meaning the "small/deficient vehicle". Classical Chinese and Tibetan teachers translate it as "smaller vehicle". The term is applied collectively to the ''Śrāvakayāna'' and ''Pratyekabuddhayāna'' pa ...
, practiced in Southeast Asia, usually wear ochre or saffron color. Monks of the forest tradition in Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia wear robes of a brownish ochre, dyed from the wood of the jackfruit tree.Anne Varichon (2000), ''Couleurs- pigments et teintures dans les mains des peuples'', p. 62. * In Hinduism, the divinity Krishna is commonly portrayed dressed in yellow. Yellow and saffron are also the colors worn by sadhu, or wandering holy men in India. The Hindu almighty and divine god Lord Ganesha or Ganpati is mostly dressed with a dhotar in yellow, which is popularly known as pivla pitambar and is considered to be the most auspicious one. * In Sikhism: The Sikh Rehat Maryada clearly states that the Nishan Sahib hoisted outside every Gurudwara should be xanthic (Basanti in
Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...
) or greyish blue (modern day Navy blue) (Surmaaee in
Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...
) color. * In
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
, the yellow color of gold symbolizes wisdom. * In the religions of the islands of Polynesia, yellow is a sacred color, the color of the divine essence; the word "yellow" in the local languages is the same as the name of the curcuma longa plant, which is considered the food of the gods. * In the Roman Catholic Church, yellow symbolizes gold, and in Christian mythology the golden key to the Kingdom of Heaven, which divine Christ gave to Saint Peter. The flag of the Vatican City and the colors of the pope are yellow and white, symbolizing the gold key and the silver key. White and yellow together can also symbolize Easter, rebirth and Resurrection. Yellow also has a negative meaning, symbolizing betrayal; Judas Iscariot is usually portrayed wearing a pale yellow toga. Yellow and golden halos mark the saints in religious paintings. *In Wicca, yellow represents intellect, inspiration, imagination, and knowledge. It is used for communication, confidence, divination, and study. File:Rank celebration of Thai Buddhist monk 1.jpg, Buddhist monks at the promotion ceremony of a monk in Thailand File:Buddhist monks of Tibet7.jpg, Buddhist monks in Tibet File:Ueno monk.jpg, A Japanese Buddhist monk in downtown Tokyo File:Sadou Kathmandu 04 04.jpg, A Hindu sadhu, or ascetic wandering monk or holy man, in Kathmandu, Nepal. File:Gesupietrochiave.jpg, Christ giving the golden key of the kingdom heaven to Saint Peter (1481–82), by Pietro Perugino. The golden key is the symbol of the Pope. File:Benedykt XVI (2010-10-17) 4.jpg, Pope Benedict XVI. The Pope traditionally wears gold and white outside St. Peter's Basilica. File:Nishan Sahib in blue, at Baba Phoola Singh di Burj in Amritsar.jpg,
Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...
Nishan Sahib in blue, at
Akali Phoola Singh Akali Phula Singh Nihang (born Nihang Singh; 1 January 1761 – 14 March 1823) was an Akali Nihang Sikh leader. He was a saint soldier of the Khalsa Shaheedan Misl and head of the Budha Dal in the early 19th century. He was also a senior ...
di Burj in
Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...


New Age Spiritual Metaphysics

* In the metaphysics of the New Age author,
Alice A. Bailey Alice Ann Bailey (June 16, 1880 – December 15, 1949) was a writer of more than twenty-four books on theosophical subjects, and was one of the first writers to use the term New Age. Bailey was born as Alice La Trobe-Bateman, in Manchest ...
, in her system called the Seven Rays which classifies humans into seven different metaphysical psychological types, the ''fourth ray'' of ''harmony through conflict'' is represented by the color ''yellow''. People who have this metaphysical psychological type are said to be ''on the Yellow Ray''." * Yellow is used to symbolically represent the third, solar plexus
chakra Chakras (, ; sa , text=चक्र , translit=cakra , translit-std=IAST , lit=wheel, circle; pi, cakka) are various focal points used in a variety of ancient meditation practices, collectively denominated as Tantra, or the esoteric or ...
(
Manipura Manipura ( sa, मणिपूर, IAST: ) is the third primary chakra according to Vedic tradition. Description Location Located above the navel, Manipura translates from Sanskrit as "city of jewels" alternatively translated as "resplendent ...
). * Psychics who claim to be able to observe the
aura Aura most commonly refers to: * Aura (paranormal), a field of luminous multicolored radiation around a person or object * Aura (symptom), a symptom experienced before a migraine or seizure Aura may also refer to: Places Extraterrestrial * 1488 ...
with their third eye report that someone with a yellow aura is typically someone who is in an occupation requiring intellectual acumen, such as a scientist.


Sports

* In Association football (soccer), the
referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...
shows a yellow card to indicate that a player has been officially warned because they have committed a foul or have wasted time. * Originally in Rugby league and then later, also in Rugby Union, the referee shows a yellow card to indicate that a player has been sent to the sin bin. * In cycle racing, the yellow jersey – or ''maillot jaune'' – is awarded to the leader in some stage races. The tradition was begun in the Tour de France where the sponsoring ''L'Auto'' newspaper (later '' L'Équipe'') was printed on distinctive yellow
newsprint Newsprint is a low-cost, non-archival paper consisting mainly of wood pulp and most commonly used to print newspapers and other publications and advertising material. Invented in 1844 by Charles Fenerty of Nova Scotia, Canada, it usually has an ...
.


Transportation

* In some countries, taxicabs are commonly yellow. This practice began in Chicago, where taxi entrepreneur
John D. Hertz John Daniel Hertz, Sr. (April 10, 1879October 8, 1961) was an American businessman, thoroughbred racehorse owner and breeder, and philanthropist. Biography Born Sándor Herz to a Jewish family in Szklabinya, Austria-Hungary (today Sklabiňa, a ...
painted his taxis yellow based on a University of Chicago study alleging that yellow is the color most easily seen at a distance. * In Canada and the United States,
school bus A school bus is any type of bus owned, leased, contracted to, or operated by a school or school district. It is regularly used to transport students to and from school or school-related activities, but not including a charter bus or transit bus ...
es are almost uniformly painted a yellow color (often referred to as " school bus yellow") for purposes of visibility and safety, and British bus operators such as FirstGroup are attempting to introduce the concept there. * "
Caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...
yellow" and "high-visibility yellow" are used for highway construction equipment. * In the
rules of the road Rules of the road may refer to: Transportation *Rules of the Road (Ireland), the official road safety manual for Ireland *Rules of the road in China * International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea * Arts and entertainment * ''Rules o ...
, yellow (called "amber" in Britain) is a traffic light signal meaning "slow down", "caution", or "slow speed ahead". It is intermediate between green (go) and red (stop). In railway signaling, yellow is often the color for warning, slow down, such as with distant signals. * Selective yellow is used in some automotive headlamps and fog lights to reduce the dazzling effects of rain, snow, and fog.


Maritime signaling

* In
International maritime signal flags International maritime signal flags are various flags used to communicate with ships. The principal system of flags and associated codes is the International Code of Signals. Various navies have flag systems with additional flags and codes, and ...
a yellow flag denotes the letter "Q". It also means a ship asserts that it does not need to be quarantined.


Idioms and expressions

* Yellow-belly is an American expression which means a coward. The term comes from the 19th century and the exact origin is unknown, but it may refer to the color of sickness, which means a person lacks strength and stamina. * Yellow pages refers in various countries to directories of telephone numbers, arranged alphabetically by the type of business or service offered. * The Yellow Peril was a term used in politics and popular fiction in the late 19th and early 20th century to describe the alleged economic and cultural danger posed to Europe and America by Chinese immigration. The term was first used by Kaiser Wilhelm II in Germany in 1895, and was the subject of numerous books and later films. *
High yellow High yellow, occasionally simply yellow (dialect: yaller, yella), is a term used to describe a light-skinned person of white and black ancestry. It is also used as a slang for those thought to have "yellow undertones". The term was in common use ...
was a term sometimes used in the early 20th century, to describe light-skinned African-Americans.


See also

* Chromophobia * Lists of colors *
Shades of yellow Varieties of the color yellow may differ in hue, chroma (also called saturation, intensity, or colorfulness) or lightness (or value, tone, or brightness), or in two or three of these qualities. Variations in value are also called tints and sha ...
* Sodium-vapor lamp


Notes


References

* * * * * * * * * * * * {{Authority control Primary colors Secondary colors Optical spectrum Rainbow colors Web colors