The Colour Orange Was Named After The Fruit
Interesting Facts in Easy English
Pre-Listening Vocabulary
- etymologist: a person who studies the evolution of languages
- citrus: a plant family that includes lemons, limes, oranges, and grapefruit
- evolve: to change over time
- drop: to let go; to no longer use
- Sanskrit: an ancient language in India
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The Colour Orange Was Named After The Fruit
Comprehension Questions
- Which came first, the colour orange or the citrus fruit?
- How did the word “naranja” evolve into orange?
- What does “geoluhread” translate to in Modern English?
Discussion Question: There is no English word that rhymes perfectly with “orange”. What other English words can you think of that don’t rhyme with any other English word?
show Answers
12 comments
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Pedro says:
“Naranja” means “Orange” the tree is masculine “Naranjo”
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Jo says:
We’re all doomed, Scott. I’m so glad I never had children.
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Alex Case says:
I have a fairly standard southern UK accent, and for me orange rhymes with syringe, fringe and binge as it also has a short i sound (though it has different stress patterns to all of those and so might not work well in a poem). If orange had a short a sound, it would rhyme with flange, which is not a pronunciation that I am familiar with.
In a similar way, for me iron rhymes with syphon, ripen and siren.
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Scott Sellitto says:
I don’t think the majority of the commentors have a good grasp of perfect rhymes. Orange doesn’t rhyme with range (short a in orange – long a in range), syringe, fringe or binge (short i in last three).
Iron doesn’t rhyme with syphon, ripen or siren if you say the words properly.
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Kofi Twumasi says:
Really? What about range, syringe, derange and so on? They rhyme perfectly with “Orange”
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Siurkowanie says:
The fascinating fact about the origin of the word, is that it actually came from a tribal clan located in Malaysia. They used to call their new-borns oranhu. The reasoning behind this is they used to have bright-yellow skin tone after birth. Greetings from Afghanistan.
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Germaine A. Blair says:
Delight in the lord a we the people are OK. Love and joy. The citrus family that’s still plants and grow the seed of knowledge..Blair/Ford
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Jonathan says:
Just a theory but the bahasa word orang (Malay and Indonesian) meaning people could be a origin. Orangutan being an orange coloured primate is seen as a type of person in bahasa as they are very human like. Many dutch who traveled via the Malay peninsula would also have displayed the colour and may have had the ginger complexion. Other common western words have originated from travelers through that area. For example to run amok, a Malay term for drunk sailors acting inappropriately when coming ashore in Melaka.
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johnny says:
lol who comes up with this? Orange rhymes perfectly with cringe, fringe, syringe, binge (and many more).
Bolt rhymes with jolt, volt, assault(and many more). Board rhymes with hoard, cord, sword (and many more). Duck rhymes with Luck, suck, truck (and many more). Iron rhymes with Siphon ripen siren (and many more). Tie rhymes with rye, lie, cry, why (and many more). -
Ricardo Emmanuel Parra Delgado says:
grupo 102
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Sabri ISMAIL says:
There are many words that don’t rhyme with any words in English language , for example : Bolt, Board ,duck , Iron , tie an many other words
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Soumaya ALOUI says:
there are many words like : purple , silver , wolf etc