Olive (color) facts for kids

This box shows the color olive.

Green olives

Olivine

Olive is a kind of muddy green color. In actuality, it is really a shade of dark yellow (when gray or black is added to yellow, the various shades of the color olive are produced). Some dark shades of olive can also be made by mixing a darker color (like brown) with green.

The color of old U.S. Army field uniforms is a shade of olive called olive drab (shown below) that was used because it was hard to see against trees and grass.

The most common place you will find the color olive is on an olive. It is the color of the outside of an olive. An olive's center is usually brown or sometimes orange or red.

There is a mineral called olivine that is colored a pale olive color.

Tones of olive color comparison chart

Name	HEX Code	Red	Green	Blue	Hue	Sat	Lum	Source
Light Earls Green	#E8E08E	232	224	142	55°	66%	73%	(Earls Green Light (Xona.com color list))
Earls Green	#C9B93B	201	185	59	53°	57%	51%	(Xona.com color list)
Light Olivetone	#B8B654	184	182	84	59°	41%	53%	(Olivetone Light (Xona.com color list))
Olivine	#9AB973	154	185	115	87°	33%	59%	(PerBang.dk) (Maerz and Paul)
Camouflage Green	#78866B	120	134	107	91°	11%	47%	(PerBang.dk)
Olive Drab (web color)	#6B8E23	107	142	35	80°	60%	35%
Olive	#808000	128	128	0	60°	100%	25%	(web color)
Olivetone	#716E10	113	110	16	58°	75%	25%	(Xona.com color list)
Dark Olive Green	#556B2F	85	107	47	82°	39%	30%	(web color)
Black Olive	#3B3C36	59	60	54	70°	5%	22%	(Olive RAL 6015)

Related pages

List of colors

Images for kids

Green sand is actually olivine crystals, which has been eroded from lava rocks
An M1 helmet, the standard helmet of the U.S. Army from 1941 through the Vietnam War. This helmet is from the Vietnam War; the color is olive green 107.
An example of black olives
An olive drab M-1943 field jacket, worn by U.S. soldiers in World War II.
Olive drab is the uniform color today of the Israel Defense Forces.
Cuban soldiers in olive drab.