オレンジ

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. オレンジジュースをください。▶ —
   Orange juice, please.
2. 空がオレンジ色になった。▶ —
   The sky turned orange.

Collocations

Mnemonic

Orenji (オレンジ) is a gairaigo (loanword) from English "orange" — katakana spelling marks "imported fruit / imported color." Native Japanese citrus is mikan (温州蜜柑, 800-year-old Japanese cultivar), whereas "orange" entered as a separate noun after the 1971 import liberalization that brought California Orange to shelves. For the color, orenji-iro and the older daidai-iro (橙色) coexist — daidai is a Japanese ornamental citrus whose homophony with 代々 (generations) makes it a New Year decoration. The split: gairaigo katakana for imports vs hiragana / kanji for native items. Color ladder: aka (red) → shu (vermilion / classical) → daidai or orenji-iro (orange) → ki (yellow).

Quick check

1. Native Japanese citrus vs orenji split?

   • Mikan (温州蜜柑) is native; orenji is gairaigo (California import, 1971)
   • Both native
   • Both gairaigo
   • Both Chinese imports