Oranges were originally green.

Oranges were originally green.

Oranges are unknown in the wild. They are a hybrid of tangerines and the pomelo or “Chinese grapefruit” (which is pale green or yellow), and were first cultivated in south-east Asia. They weren't orange, but green, and Vietnamese oranges and Thai tangerines are still bright green on the outside and orange inside.

The green is due to chlorophyll produced on the peel of orange citrus to protect itself from sunburn. The green color has no impact on flavor—in fact, some growers believe that citrus with regreening can have more sugar than deep-orange fruit. ... Next time you see an orange or tangerine tinged with green, give it a try!

Do the two concepts share the same word in all languages? Orange the fruit came first. The word came into English either from Old French 'pomme d'orenge', or from the Spanish 'naranja' (with the subsequent transfer of the 'n' over to the indefinite article, as per 'apron' and 'adder', originally 'napron' and 'nadder').

The citrus definitely got named first. The earliest recorded use of orange the fruit in English is from the 1300s and came to us from the Old French orenge, adapted from the Arabic nāranj, from the Persian nārang, from the Sanskrit nāranga ("orange tree").