Does Irish have a word for ‘orange’?

It kind of does but it's complicated. Traditionally, Irish does not have a word for the colour orange. Objects are described as either buí yellow or dearg red, depending on which is closer.

But, because of the influence of English, there is no shortage of words coined to fill this perceiced gap. One you will sometimes see is flannbhuí, which can be rephrased literally as dark yellow or blood yellow. Another is oráiste, same as the word for the fruit orange.

Should you use them?

If you don't care about offending a few purists, oráiste is OK to use. For orange paint you can say péint oráiste and for orange weather warning feel free to say rabhadh aimsire oráiste. You will not be on your own, lots of people have no qualms about speaking like that.

The word flannbhuí, on the other hand, never really took off. It feels made-up and old-fashioned at the same time, so the best advice for learners is to avoid it altogether.

If you do want to talk about the colour orange in Irish while staying true to the traditions of the language, you need to realize that colours are a continuum which different languages cut in different places. Just like Russian has two words for different kinds of blue and Japanese has only one word for both blue and green, so Irish has no word for orange. It does not need one either because it covers the ground with a more broadly defined buí yellow and dearg red. This is why the Irish term for Orangemen, members of the Orange order, is Fir Bhuí, literally Yellow Men.

The colour or the fruit?

The word oráiste deserves a little explanation. There is nothing wrong with using it as a noun in reference to the fruit. It is only its use as an adjective, in reference to the colour, that feels slightly wrong to some people. Therefore, saying tá an liathróid oráiste the ball is orange may raise eyebrows with some purists, but tá an liathróid ar dhath an oráiste the ball is the same colour as an orange is OK.