Chartreuse (color)

Shades

Main article: Shades of chartreuse

History and etymology

The name Carthusian is derived from the Chartreuse Mountains in the French Prealps: Bruno of Cologne built his first hermitage in a valley of these mountains. These names were adapted to the English charterhouse, meaning a Carthusian monastery. These monks started producing Chartreuse liqueur in 1737.

In nature

Yellow-green algae, also called Xanthophytes, are a class of algae in the Heterokontophyta division. Most live in fresh water, but some are found in marine and soil habitats. They vary from single-celled flagellates to simple colonial and filamentous forms. Unlike other heterokonts, the plastids of yellow-green algae do not contain fucoxanthin, which is why they have a lighter color.

In popular culture

The song ''Chartreuse''

Introduced by rhythm and blues bandleader Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five in 1950, the song (You dyed your hair) Chartreuse was written by J. Leslie McFarland and Billy Moore according to the record collector database Secondhand Songs and the record collector website Discogs. It was the B-side of the Decca Records 45 rpm release "Lemonade". It was also recorded later the same year by Gordon MacRae with harmony singing by The Ewing Sisters and orchestra led by Frank De Vol.

In the tongue-in-cheek lyric, the singer threatens to tell the mother of his "freckle-faced pug-nosed cutie" about the change in hair color. "You went to far in that beauty booth, when you died your hair chartreuse," he says.

Traffic safety

Chartreuse yellow is used on traffic safety vests to provide increased visibility for employees working near traffic. The chartreuse yellow background material, together with a retro-reflective satisfy the ANSI 107-2010 standard since 1999. High-visibility clothing ANSI Standards were adopted as an Occupational Safety and Health Act (United States) requirement in 2008.

Film and television

The 1960 Universal film Chartroose Caboose featured a "bright green"–colored train car.

In the 2001 Blue's Clues episode "Colors Everywhere!", Blue and Joe meet a physical representation of the colour chartreuse, who takes the form of a glob of paint. Chartreuse demonstrates that her colour is made by mixing yellow and green.

Firefighting

Since about 1973, a sort of fluorescent chartreuse green has been adopted as the color of fire engines in parts of the United States and elsewhere. The use of chartreuse fire engines began when New York ophthalmologist Stephen Solomon produced research claiming that sparkling bright lime-green paint would boost the night-time visibility of emergency vehicles compared to those painted the traditional fire engine red. The reason for this is the Purkinje effect, i.e., the cones do not function as efficiently in dim light, so red objects appear to be black. In Australia, this form of chartreuse yellow is also known as "ACT yellow" as this is the color of the fire engines in the Australian Capital Territory.

In 2009, the American firefighting standard NFPA 1901 was updated to specify that the rears of firefighting vehicles and ambulances were to have retroreflective chevron striping, that was an alternating pattern of red and either yellow or yellow-green stripes.

Music

Charli XCX's 2024 album Brat has a chartreuse-colored album cover with the text "brat".

References

Informational notes

Citations

References

1. (27 September 2025). "HSL color chart with names".
2. "Chartreuse". [[Houghton Mifflin]]/[[Yahoo! Inc. (1995–2017).
3. DuBois, Stephanie. (August 7, 2020). "The Unexpected History of the Color Chartreuse".
4. "Green Chartreuse and Yellow Chartreuse".
5. . (2006-09-28). ["Color forecasting: Shrek turns the world green"](https://www.seattletimes.com/life/lifestyle/color-forecasting-shrek-turns-the-world-green/).
6. Goldberg, Carole. "Despite what Kermit says, Shrek's cool with his color". [[Hartford Courant]].
7. Kemp, Ella. (May 18, 2021). "A Cultural Evolution of 'Shrek', from Blockbuster Hit to Historic Meme".
8. Bakshi, Pema. "The Final Frontier Of 'Ugly' Fashion Is Shrek Green".
9. (2021-11-15). "The Unexpected History of the Color Chartreuse — Gallant Culture".
10. (2021-03-19). "Yellow-Green: What is it and How To Use it in Your Designs?".
11. "Cover versions of Chartreuse written by Billy Moore, J. Leslie McFarland | SecondHandSongs".
12. (1950). "Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five - Lemonade / (You Dyed Your Hair) Chartreuse".
13. "GovInfo".
14. Sandra Brennan. (2008). "N.Y. Times Overview of the film Chartroose Caboose". [[The New York Times]].
15. "Blue's Clues: S05E02 - Colors Everywhere!".
16. Simon, Stephanie. (7 July 1995). "The Green Firetruck Heresy : Some studies say red is not a safe color. But chartreuse just doesn't excite the masses.".
17. ((Katley99)). (4 July 2009). "East Longmeadow 4th of July Parade 2009". [[YouTube]].
18. (2009). "NFPA 1901 - Standard for Automotive Fire Apparatus - 2009 Edition". National Fire Protection Association.
19. (August 2009). "Emergency Vehicle Visibility and Conspicuity Study - FA-323". [[Federal Emergency Management Agency]].
20. (23 July 2024). "How this 'off-putting' color shaded the internet and beyond". [[CNN]].