Why does orange sound so similar in most different languages?

For example: Orange - English Orenji - Japanese Orange - French

…etc :O

Answer #1

A lot of words are like that. Not exactly sure “why” though, maybe it’s because a lot of English words come from other languages words?

Like, some words have been borrowed from other languages, and they have kept their original spellings, but over the years, people began pronouncing the words according to English language rules.

Answer #2

Orange is actually a color that is difficult to produce from natural dyestuff. So it wasn’t usually available in any low-tech cultures.

And the fruit orange originally grew in an only very small geographical region ~2000 BC in southeast Asia. From there it spread (was traded) via (11th century) Persia and south Europe (14th century) and eventually was brought to America.

I assume that the word - the name of the fruit - traveled with the fruit and was thus introduced into many languages. And as it was the most common thing in that color people everywhere also called the color orange.

Words are often taken from the original inventor/ inhabitant/ trader.

Many US-American place names native American words. The word computer is understood in most languages as the inventor of the first computer machines called them that. Vodka is called vodka everywhere, in Russian the word is simply a diminutive form of “Voda” meaning water. The banana is a banana/banane/banaan in almost every language… there are so many examples of that.

Answer #3

What abt spanish and arabic though?! They sound nothing alike! :D

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