Shouldn't the color naranja be naranjo?

Question

Shoudn' t the color "naranja" be in fact the masculine "naranjo" like some of the other colors?

Answer 1

Only Spanish classes in the United States teach "anaranjado" as the color orange. In reality, the word "naranja" is used for the color orange in general (and the fruit), and anaranjado is a certain SHADE of orange.

:) THanks for the confirmation this is how I have learnt it from Spanish natives while living in England :) - FELIZ77, Apr 28, 2011

Answer 2

Actually, the color is anaranjado, orange. Unless, I misunderstand but, I don't think I've ever seen the color naranja.... There is a fruit called naranja, which is an orange, like you eat it. Naranjo, is an orange tree.

Naranja is used BOTH as a colour and as a fruit, just like in English. - Gocika, Feb 10, 2010

Yes, but in Spanish, there are different names for the color and fruit. Color=anaranjado Fruit=naranja. I've always been taught this way... - kanani142, Feb 10, 2010

anaranjado o anaranjada...It is actually an adjective - planf, Feb 10, 2010

"Nunca me compro una falda naranja. Nunca me compro faldas naranja." - Gocika, Feb 10, 2010

Whatever think what you want. I've just been taught this way since kinder - kanani142, Feb 11, 2010

I copy pasted the quote above from this site FYI - Gocika, Feb 14, 2010

Point being, I wouldn't laugh at others thinking I knew everything. - Gocika, Feb 14, 2010

Only Spanish classes in the United States teach "anaranjado" as the color orange. In reality, the word "naranja" is used for the color orange in general (and the fruit), and anaranjado is a certain SHADE of orange. - yoga7890, Apr 28, 2011

Answer 3

Hi Gocika! Check out this reference article: Colours

And don't worry about having a lot of 'should' questions. I am the same way, and this site has plenty of helpful people, and a lot of answers already here that you can search through.

We look forward to seeing you around!

Thank you, Chaparrito! - Gocika, Feb 10, 2010

Answer 4

I have many "shoulds" about Spanish myself How about "el problema"?

Answer 5

There are a few colours that don't alter their endings for masculine or feminine, naranja is one of them as is rosa. The reason being is that these spanish words used for colours are actually words of an actual thing (a fruit, a flower etc) hence the sex not altering to suit the noun like normal colours.

Answer 6

(By the way, "el problema" is "el" because like some of the other male Spanish words ending with an "a" it comes from a Greek source - el tema, el poema, el programa are other examples of this anomaly)