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Green is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nm. It is considered one of the additive primary colors. On the HSV Color Wheel, the complement of green is magenta; that is, a color corresponding to an equal mixture of red and blue light (one of the purples). On a color wheel based on traditional color theory (RYB), the complementary color to green is considered to be red.Glossary Term: Color wheel

In English, the word ''green'' is closely related to the Old English verb ''growan'', “to grow”. It is used to describe plants or the ocean. Sometimes it can also describe someone who is inexperienced, jealous, or sick. In America, ''green'' is a slang term for money, among other things. Several colloquialisms have derived from these meanings, such as “green around the gills”, a phrase used to describe a person who looks ill.

Several minerals have a green color, including the emerald, which is colored green by its chromium content. Animals such as frogs, lizards, and other reptiles and amphibians, fish, insects, and birds, appear green because of a mixture of layers of blue and green coloring on their skin. By far the largest contributor to green in nature is chlorophyll, the chemical by which plants photosynthesize. Many animals have adapted to their green environments by taking on a green hue themselves as camouflage.

In human culture, green has broad, even contradictory meanings. In some cultures, for example, it symbolizes hope, while in others, it is associated with death, sickness, or even the devil. The most common associations, however, are found in its ties to nature. Islam, for example, venerates the color, as it expects paradise to be full of lush greenery. Culturally, it is also associated with growth, regeneration, fertility and rebirth for its connections to nature. Recent political groups have taken on the color as symbol of environmental protection and social justice, and consider themselves part of the green movement, some even naming themselves green parties. This has led to similar campaigns in advertising, as companies have sold green, or environmentally friendly, products.

Etymology and definitions

The word ''green'' comes from the Old English word ''grene'', or, in its older form, ''groeni''. This adjective is closely related to the Old English verb ''growan'' (“to grow’) and goes back into Western Germanic and Scandinavian languages.Online Etymology Dictionary The word designates the color on the visible light spectrum situated between blue and yellow. It is often used to describe foliage and the sea, and has become a symbol of environmentalism. It also is combined with other color names to increase specificity, as in “blue-green”, or with objects, as in “emerald green”. Green is also used to describe jealousy and envy, as well as anyone young, inexperienced, or gullible (probably by analogy to unripe, i.e. unready or immature, fruit).http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/green Lastly, green can communicate safety to proceed, as in traffic lights.Oxford English Dictionary Overall, greens, along with blues and purples, are frequently described as “cool” colors, in contrast to red and yellow. Some languages have no word separating green from blue (see blue-green across cultures).

The word green is found in several colloquial phrases connected to these meanings. For example, in golf, the region of grass around the hole is trimmed short—it is referred to as the ''putting green'', or simply, the ''green''. Someone who works well with plants is said to have a ''green thumb'', a physically-ill person is said to look ''green around the gills'', and the word ''greenhorn'' refers to an inexperienced person. A company is ''greenwashing'' if they advertise positive environmental practices to cover up environmental destruction.The article on greenwashing discusses several examples.

Green is the color of United States banknotes, giving rise to the slang term ''greenback'' for cash. Therefore, in areas that use the U.S. Dollar as currency, green carries a connotation of money, wealth, and capitalism. One of the more notable uses of this meaning is found in ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz''. In this story is the Emerald City, where everyone wears tinted glasses to which make everything look green. The City’s color is used by the author, L. Frank Baum, to illustrate the financial system of America in his day, as he lived in a time when America was debating the use of paper money versus gold.Carruthers, Bruce G.; Sarah Babb. "The Color of Money and the Nature of Value: Greenbacks and Gold in Postbellum America." ''The American Journal of Sociology.'' (May 1996) 101.6 pgs. 1556-1591

Color vision and colorimetry

Humans have color receptors in their eyes called cone cells, of three different types. In some cases, one type is missing or faulty, which can cause color blindness, including the common inability to distinguish red and yellow from green, known as deuteranopia or red–green color blindness.The New Encyclopædia Britannica. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2002. ISBN 0852297874 Green is restful to the eye. Studies show that a green environment can reduce fatigue.Laird, Donald A. "Fatigue: Public Enemy Number One: What It Is and How to Fight It." The American Journal of Nursing (Sep 1933) 33.9 pgs. 835-841.

The perception of green is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nm. The sensitivity of the dark-adapted human eye is greatest at about 507 nm, a blue-green color, while the light-adapted eye is most sensitive about 555 nm, a slightly yellowish green; these are the peak locations of the rod and cone (scotopic and photopic, respectively) luminosity functions.

Green is considered one of the additive primary colors, along with red and blue. Additive combination of primary colors can produce most colors. In subtractive color mixtures, green is created by mixing yellow and blue pigments or dyes. On the HSV Color Wheel, the complement of green is magenta; that is, a color corresponding to an equal mixture of red and blue light (one of the purples). On a traditional color wheel, based on subtractive color, the complementary color to green is considered to be red.Glossary Term: Color wheel

Green in biology

Green is common in nature, especially in plants. Many plants are green mainly because of a complex chemical known as chlorophyll which is involved in photosynthesis. Some animals are green: these include some frogs, toads, some turtles, some lizards and amphibians, some snakes, some birds such as parrots, caterpillars and some insects such as praying mantids. Green algae and green plankton are important food sources at the bottom of the food chain. Most fish, reptiles, amphibians, and birds appear green because of a reflection of blue light coming through an over-layer of yellow pigment. Perception of color can also be effected by the environment surrounding. For example, broadleaf forests typically have a yellow-green light about them as the trees filter the light. Turacoverdin is one chemical which can cause a green hue in birds, especially. Invertebrates, such as insects or mollusks, often display green colors because of Porphyrin pigments, sometimes caused by diet. This can causes their feces to look green as well. Other chemicals which generally contribute to greenness among organisms are flavins (lychochromes) and hemanovadin. Animals typically use the color green as camouflage, blending in with the chlorophyll green of the surrounding environment. Humans have mimicked this by wearing green clothing as a camouflage in military and other fields. Substances that may impart a greenish hue to one's skin include biliverdin, the green pigment in bile, and ceruloplasmin, a protein that carries copper ions in chelation.

Green in human culture

In English folklore and literature, green has traditionally been used to symbolize nature and its embodied attributes, namely those of fertility and rebirth. Stories of the medieval period further portray it as representing loveChamberlin, Vernon A. “Symbolic Green: A Time-Honored Characterizing Device in Spanish Literature.” ''Hispania.'' 51.1 (Mar 1968) pp. 29-37 and the base, natural desires of man.Goldhurst, William. “The Green and the Gold: The Major Theme of Gawain and the Green Knight.” ''College English.'' 20.2 (Nov 1958) pp. 61-65 doi:10.2307/372161 Green is also known to have signified witchcraft, devilry and evil for its association with faeries and spirits of early English folklore. It also had an association with decay and toxicity.Williams, Margaret. The Pearl Poet, His Complete Works. Random House, 1967. The color, when combined with gold, is seen as representing the fading away of youth.Lewis, John S. "Gawain and the Green Knight." ''College English.'' 21.1 (Oct 1959) pp. 50-51 In the Celtic tradition, green was avoided in clothing for its superstitious association with misfortune and death.''The Idea of the Green Knight'', Lawrence Besserman, ELH, Vol. 53, No. 2. (Summer, 1986), pp. 219-239. The Johns Hopkins University Press.''Why The Devil Wears Green'', D. W. Robertson Jr., Modern Language Notes, Vol. 69, No. 7. (Nov., 1954), pp. 470-472. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Green is thought to be an unlucky color in British and British-derived cultures,Folklore and Symbolism of Green by John Hutchings in ''Folklore'', 1997, 108:55. Retrieved April 3, 2007. where green cars, wedding dresses, and theatre costumes are all the objects of superstition.“Green is an unlucky color for automobiles ”, Snopes.com, February 27, 2007. Retrieved April 3, 2007. In high schools in the United States during the 1960s, it was widely believed that if someone wore green on Thursdays, it meant that they were homosexual. Grahn, Judy ''Another Mother Tongue''. New York: 1990. Beacon Press. This book discusses the origins of this curious belief.

Green is a symbol of Ireland, which is often referred to as the “Emerald Isle”. The color is particularly identified with the republican and nationalist traditions in modern times. It is used this way on the flag of the Republic of Ireland, in balance with white and the Protestant orange.Guidelines for Use of the National Flag (RTF), published by the Irish Government.'' Document retrieved 11 December 2006'' Green is a strong trend in the Irish holiday St. Patrick’s Day.http://www.ottawaplus.ca/feature/st_patrick/103/history_lore.jsp

In Western culture the color green is often used as a symbol of sickness and/or nausea. However in many Latin cultures green portrays health and growth and illness is associated more with red. In Dante’s ''Divine Comedy'', green is the color used to symbolize hope. Green is one of the Christmas colors, usually with red and sometimes also with white and gold and/or silver.

In popular western culture, green is often depicted as a skin discoloration or unusual pigmentation. For example, cartoons and animation often show a character as being sick with a green face. Following this convention, Mr. Yuk was conceived in 1971 as the mascot for the poison center at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. Relatedly, little green men are the stereotypical portrayal of extraterrestrials as little humanoid-like creatures with green skin and antennae on their heads. The color is also sometimes associated with gremlins, mythical creatures known for causing problems in airplanes and mechanical devices.

In Thailand, Green is associated with Wednesday on the Thai solar calendar. Anyone may wear green on Wednesdays, and anyone born on a Wednesday may adopt green as their color. Thai, however, is one of the languages that has had trouble in distinguishing blue from green, though recently published dictionaries do make the distinction. () besides meaning Green also means rank and smelly and other unpleasant associations.http://english-thai-dictionary.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=4f45ab7ea8c50b85369a44a3453bdb91& In Ancient China, green was the symbol of East and Wood, one of the main five colors. The Chinese term for “cuckold” is sounds similar to the Chinese for “wearing a green hat”. It is because of this that it is extremely rare to see any Chinese men wearing a green hat.http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/26365

Nationality and Politics

Green has become the symbolic color of environmentalism, chosen for its association with nature, health, and growth. The Green Party is any of various political parties emphasizing environmental protection, grassroots democracy, pacifism, and social justice (collectively called “green politics”). Green Parties, now active in over one hundred countries, are more broadly included in the green movement, and most are members of the Global Green Network, which has united them under a common Global Green Charter.

The Pan-Green Coalition in Taiwan received its color from the Democratic Progressive Party, who used it to promote the environment. Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople is often referred to as the “Green Patriarch” because of the support he has caused the Ecumenical Patriarchate to place for maintenance and protection of the environment.

Several countries use green on their flags for symbolic or cultural reasons. Green, for example is one of the three colors (along with gold and black) of Pan-Africanism. Several African countries thus use the color on their flags, including South Africa, Ghana, Senegal, Mali, Ethiopia, Togo, Guinea, Benin, and Zimbabwe. The Pan-African colors are borrowed from the Ethiopian flag, one of the oldest independent African countries. Green in these cases represents the natural richness of Africa.pg. 135 ISBN 1566395844

;Flags

In heraldry, green is called ''vert'' (French for “green”). Fourteenth century documents describe vert as a symbol of “jolliness and youth, but also of beauty and shame” as well as of death. Vert is used for the flags of Wales and Hungary, and is the basis for the Brazilian flag as well.pgs. 289-290 ISBN 0801862396Brault, Gerard J. (1997). ''Early Blazon: Heraldic Terminology in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries'', (2nd ed.). Woodbridge, UK: The Boydell Press. ISBN 0-85115-711-4.

Green and yellow are colors of Jamaica, Lithuania

Green and white are the colors of Nigeria.

Green, white, and red are the colors of Mexico, Bulgaria, Italy, and Wales.

A pattern of green, white, and orange is also seen in Niger and Côte d'Ivoire.

Green is the symbol of the Esperanto language. The color is particularly associated with the green star, and is seen too on the Esperanto flag.

Religion and philosophy

Green is considered the traditional color of Islam, likewise because of its association with nature. This is for several reasons. First, Muhammad is reliably quoted in a hadith as saying that “water, greenery, and a beautiful face” were three universally good things. In the Qur'an, sura Al-Insan, believers in Allah in Jannah wear fine green silk.Sura 76, The Human (Al-Insaan) Quran The Final Testament, translated by Rashad Khalifa, Ph.D. Sura 18, The Cave (Al-Kahf) Quran The Final Testament, translated by Rashad Khalifa, Ph.D. Also, Al-Khidr (“The Green One”), is a Qur’anic figure who met and traveled with Moses. The flag of Hamas, as well as the flag of Iran, is green, symbolising their Islamist ideology. The flag of Libya is green as well, the only current national flag of a single color.

In the metaphysics of the ''New Age Prophetess'', Alice A. Bailey, in her system called the Seven Rays which classifies humans into seven different metaphysical personality types, the ''third ray'' of ''creative intelligence'' is represented by the color ''green''. People who have this metaphysical personality type are said to be ''on the Green Ray''. In Hinduism, Green is used to symbolically represent the fourth, heart chakra (Anahata). Psychics who claim to be able to observe the aura with their third eye report that someone with a green aura is typically someone who is in an occupation related to health, such as a doctor or nurse, as well as people who are lovers of nature and the outdoors. Swami Panchadasi ''The Human Aura: Astral Colors and Thought Forms'' Des Plaines, Illinois, USA:1912--Yogi Publications Society Page 35

In the Roman Catholic church, green is a traditional color of the sacred science of canon law. Also, Roman Catholic clergy wear green vestments at liturgical celebrations during Ordinary Time. In the Eastern Catholic Church, green is the color of Pentecost.