Maroon (US/UK /məˈrn/ mə-ROON,[2] Australia /məˈrn/ mə-ROHN[3]) is a brownish crimson color that takes its name from the French word marron, or chestnut.[4] "Marron" is also one of the French translations for "brown".

Quick Facts Color coordinates, Hex triplet ...
Maroon
 
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About these coordinates     Color coordinates
Hex triplet#800000
sRGBB (r, g, b)(128, 0, 0)
HSV (h, s, v)(0°, 100%, 50%)
CIELChuv (L, C, h)(26, 86, 12°)
SourceHTML/CSS[1]
ISCC–NBS descriptorDeep reddish brown
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)
H: Normalized to [0–100] (hundred)
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Terms describing interchangeable shades, with overlapping RGB ranges, include burgundy, claret, mulberry and crimson.

Different dictionaries define maroon differently. The Cambridge English Dictionary defines maroon as a dark reddish-purple color while its "American Dictionary" section defines maroon as dark brown-red.[5] Lexico online dictionary defines maroon as a brownish-red.[6] Similarly, Dictionary.com defines maroon as a dark brownish-red.[7] The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes maroon as "a brownish-crimson or claret colour,"[8] while the Merriam-Webster online dictionary simply defines it as a dark red.[9]

In the sRGB color model for additive color representation, the web color called maroon is created by turning down the brightness of pure red to about one half. It is also noted that maroon is the complement of the web color called teal.[1]

Etymology

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The word "maroon" derives from the French marron, meaning chestnut.

Maroon is French marron ("chestnut"),[10] itself from the Italian marrone that means both chestnut and brown (but the color maroon in Italian is granata and in French is grenat), from the medieval Greek maraon.[11]

The first recorded use of maroon as a color name in English was in 1789.[12]

In culture

Religion
National symbols
Politics
Military
  • The distinctive maroon beret has been worn by many airborne forces around the world, starting with the British Parachute Regiment (nicknamed the "Maroon Machine"), in 1942.[18] It is sometimes referred to as the "red beret."
  • Historically maroon was the distinguishing color of the Caçadores (rifle) regiments of the Portuguese Army.
Business
  • Maroon is the signature color of the Japanese private rail company, Hankyu Railway, decided by a vote of women customers in 1923.[19] In the 1990s, Hankyu planned an alternative color as it was developing new vehicles. That plan was called off following opposition by local residents
Music
School colors

Many universities, colleges, high schools and other educational institutions have maroon as one of their school colors. Popular combinations include maroon and white, maroon and grey, maroon and gold, and maroon and blue.

Sports

Sports teams often use maroon as one of their identifying colors, as a result, many have received the nickname "Maroons."

Commercial variations of maroon

Maroon (Crayola)

Quick Facts Color coordinates, Hex triplet ...
Maroon (Crayola)
 
About these coordinates     Color coordinates
Hex triplet#C32148
sRGBB (r, g, b)(195, 33, 72)
HSV (h, s, v)(346°, 83%, 76%)
CIELChuv (L, C, h)(43, 112, 5°)
SourceCrayola
ISCC–NBS descriptorVivid red
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)
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The color designated as maroon in Crayola crayons since 1958 (when it was renamed from dark red) is a bright medium shade of maroon halfway between brown and rose.

Rich maroon (maroon (X11))

Quick Facts Rich maroon [ maroon (X11) ], Color coordinates ...
Rich maroon [ maroon (X11) ]
 
About these coordinates     Color coordinates
Hex triplet#B03060
sRGBB (r, g, b)(176, 48, 96)
HSV (h, s, v)(338°, 73%, 69%)
CIELChuv (L, C, h)(42, 82, 355°)
SourceX11 color names#Color name clashes
ISCC–NBS descriptorStrong red
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)
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Displayed in the adjacent table is the color rich maroon, i.e. maroon as defined in the X11 color names, which is much brighter and more toned toward rose than the HTML/CSS maroon shown above.

See the chart Color name clashes in the X11 color names article to see those colors that are different in HTML/CSS and X11.

Mystic maroon

Quick Facts Mystic Maroon, Color coordinates ...
Mystic Maroon
 
About these coordinates     Color coordinates
Hex triplet#AD4379
sRGBB (r, g, b)(173, 67, 121)
HSV (h, s, v)(329°, 61%, 68%)
CIELChuv (L, C, h)(45, 66, 343°)
SourceCrayola
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)
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Displayed at right is the color mystic maroon, one of the colors in the special set of metallic Crayola crayons called Silver Swirls, the colors of which were formulated by Crayola in 1990.

Although this is supposed to be a metallic color, there is no mechanism for displaying metallic colors on a computer.

Dark red

Quick Facts Dark Red, Color coordinates ...
Dark Red
 
About these coordinates     Color coordinates
Hex triplet#8B0000
sRGBB (r, g, b)(139, 0, 0)
HSV (h, s, v)(0°, 100%, 55%)
CIELChuv (L, C, h)(28, 94, 12°)
SourceX11
ISCC–NBS descriptorStrong reddish brown
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)
Close

Displayed in the adjacent table is the web color dark red.

UP Maroon

Quick Facts UP Maroon, Color coordinates ...
UP Maroon
 
About these coordinates     Color coordinates
Hex triplet#8a1538
sRGBB (r, g, b)(138, 21, 56)
HSV (h, s, v)(342°, 85%, 54%)
CIELChuv (L, C, h)(30, 75, 2°)
Source[Unsourced]
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)
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UP Maroon is the shade used by the University of the Philippines as its primary color.

See also

Notes

  1. According to the 1994 law, Latvijas valsts karogs ir sarkans ar baltu svītru. (Latvian national flag is red with a white stripe.) [14] Sarkans is the word for "red" in Latvian, while "maroon" is petarde.[15]

References

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