Why are oranges called oranges, but peaches aren’t called pinks, and plums aren’t called purples?

Question

Why are oranges called oranges, but peaches aren’t called pinks, and plums aren’t called purples?

In: Other

Answer 1

According to a bit of quick research, the colour orange came from the fruit. We didn’t call the fruit orange because of it’s colour, we called the colour ‘orange’ because of the fruit’s name.

‘We [English speakers] lifted the word from French, which got it (with modifications) from Italian “arancia”, which came from Arabic “naranj”, which derived from Sanskrit “naranga”.’ -[Sharon Wolfgang, in response to a similar question on Quora](https://www.quora.com/Why-is-an-Orange-the-only-fruit-named-after-a-colour)

Before this, English (or rather, Old English) didn’t have a name for the colour orange, we called it ‘geoluhread’, or ‘yellow-red’. Eventually, as English-speakers became familiar with oranges, they decided to name the yellow-red colour ‘orange’.