Buff (latin ''bubalinus'') is a light

brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model ...

ish

yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In th ...

ochre Ochre ( ; , ), or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colours produced ...

ous colour, typical of

buff leather Buff leather is a strong, soft preparation of bull's or elk's hide, used in the Middle Ages onwards, that bore a rudimentary ability to deaden the effect of a blow. As armor fell into disuse at the widespread arrival of firearms to the battlefield ...

. Buff is a mixture of yellow ochre and

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

: two parts of white lead and one part of yellow ochre produces a good buff, or white lead may be tinted with French ochre alone. As an RYB quaternary colour, it is the colour produced by an equal mix of the tertiary colours citron and russet.

Etymology

The first recorded use of the word ''buff'' to describe a colour was in ''

The London Gazette ''The London Gazette'' is one of the official journals of record or government gazettes of the Government of the United Kingdom, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices are ...

'' of 1686, describing a uniform to be "...a Red Coat with a Buff-colour'd lining". It referred to the colour of undyed buffalo leather, such as soldiers wore as some protection: an eyewitness to the death in the Battle of Edgehill (1642) of Sir Edmund Verney noted "he would neither put on arms rmouror

buff coat The European buff coat is an item of leather clothing that was primarily worn by cavalry and officers during the 17th century, but also worn by a small number of infantry. It was often worn under iron or steel armour for the torso ( back and br ...

the day of the battle". Such

was suitable for '' buffing'' or serving as a '' buffer'' between polished objects. It is not clear which bovine "''buffalo''" referred to, but it may not have been any of the animals called "buffalo" today.

Derived terms

The word ''buff'' meaning " enthusiast" or "expert" (US English) derives from the colour "buff", specifically from the buff-coloured uniform facings of 19th-century New York City volunteer firemen, who inspired partisan followers among particularly keen fire watchers. "In the buff", today meaning naked, originally applied to English soldiers wearing the buff leather

tunic A tunic is a garment for the body, usually simple in style, reaching from the shoulders to a length somewhere between the hips and the knees. The name derives from the Latin ''tunica'', the basic garment worn by both men and women in Ancient Ro ...

that was their uniform until the 17th century. The "naked" signification is due to the perception that (English) skin is buff-coloured.

In nature

Geology

Sand, rock, and

loess Loess (, ; from german: Löss ) is a clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loess or similar deposits. Loess is a periglacial or aeoli ...

tend to be buff in many areas. File:Sand Drawings.JPG, Buff sand File:Short Cliff - geograph.org.uk - 881661.jpg, Buff rock at the top of a cliff File:LoessVicksburg.jpg, Buff

Natural selection

Because buff is effective in

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...

, it is often naturally selected. File:AB Keeled Scales.jpg, Buff bands on a snake File:Phalera bucephala MHNT.jpg, A moth with buff wingtips ('' Phalera bucephala'') File:Phalera bucephala, Mondvogel 6.JPG, The buff wingtips of this moth aid in camouflage. File:Panellus_stipticus_8445.jpg, Buff

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately fr ...

Many

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

are named for their buff markings, including the buff arches moth, the buff-bellied climbing mouse, and at least sixty birds, including the buff-fronted quail-dove, the buff-vented bulbul, and the

buff-spotted flufftail The buff-spotted flufftail (''Sarothrura elegans'') is a species of bird in the family Sarothruridae. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, ...

. File:Nomascus-gabriellae.jpg, A pair of

northern buffed-cheeked gibbon The northern buffed-cheeked gibbon (''Nomascus annamensis'') is a newly discovered species of crested gibbon which is found in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Its habitat is in the humid subtropical and seasonal tropical forests of these count ...

s File:Buff-banded Rail LEI Jan08.jpg, The

buff-banded rail The buff-banded rail (''Hypotaenidia philippensis'') is a distinctively coloured, highly dispersive, medium-sized rail of the rail family, Rallidae. This species comprises several subspecies found throughout much of Australasia and the south-we ...

File:Theristicus caudatus (Coclí) (5145728595).jpg, The

buff-necked ibis The buff-necked ibis (''Theristicus caudatus''), also known as the white-throated ibis, is a fairly large ibis found widely in open habitats of eastern and northern South America. It formerly included the similar black-faced ibis as a subspecies, ...

File:Tangara cayana1.jpg, The burnished-buff tanager

In culture

Architecture

In areas where buff raw materials are available, buff walls and buildings may be found.

Cotswold stone The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of J ...

is an example of such a material. File:The Street - geograph.org.uk - 350549.jpg, Traditional buff stone buildings File:Poplar, Follett Street, E14 (1) - geograph.org.uk - 934243.jpg, Modern buff brick buildings (centre)

Stationery and art

Unless bleached or dyed, paper products, such as Manila paper, tend to be buff. Buff

envelope An envelope is a common packaging item, usually made of thin, flat material. It is designed to contain a flat object, such as a letter or card. Traditional envelopes are made from sheets of paper cut to one of three shapes: a rhombus, a ...

s are used extensively in commercial mailings. File:ManilaPaper.jpg, Manila paper File:SayilmisSecimZarflari.JPG, Buff envelopes Buff paper is sometimes favoured by artists seeking a neutral background colour for drawings, especially those featuring the colour white. File:Portrait of a gentleman by Sir Peter Lely.jpg, Red and white chalk portrait on buff paper File:Waterfall at Tivoli by George Hayter.jpg, Black chalk with brown wash, heightened with white on buff paper File:Tour de St Romain Rouen cathedral by William Froome Smallwood.jpg, Graphite drawing with watercolour wash on buff paper

Artificial selection

Buff domesticated animals and plants have been created, including dogs, cats, and poultry. The word ''buff'' is used in written standards of several

breed A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slig ...

s, and some, such as the Buff turkey, are specifically named "buff". File:American Cocker Spaniel buff portrait.jpg, A buff gun dog File:Shaded Tan Maine Coon cat.jpg, A buff mousing cat File:Buff_Orpington_chicken,_UK.jpg, A buff chicken File:Orpington Duck 2014-10-20 001.jpg, The Buff Orpington Duck File:Rosa 'Buff Beauty'.jpg, The rose

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...

'Buff Beauty'.

Clothing

In 16th- and 17th-century

European culture The culture of Europe is rooted in its art, architecture, film, different types of music, economics, literature, and philosophy. European culture is largely rooted in what is often referred to as its "common cultural heritage". Definit ...

s, buff waistcoats ("vests" in American English), were considered proper

casual wear Casual wear (or casual attire or clothing) is a Western dress code that is relaxed, occasional, spontaneous and suited for everyday use. Casual wear became popular in the Western world following the counterculture of the 1960s. When emphasisi ...

. In the 17th century, the traditional colour of formal dress boot uppers was often described as "buff". File:Musician Holding Bagpipes 1632.jpg, 17th-century English musician wearing a buff waistcoat File:Piccolomini_5.jpg, 17th-century Italian nobleman wearing buff dress boot uppers

John Bull

Clothing depicted on John Bull, a

national personification A national personification is an anthropomorphic personification of a state or the people(s) it inhabits. It may appear in political cartoons and propaganda. Some early personifications in the Western world tended to be national manifestation ...

of Britain in general and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

in particular, in political cartoons and similar graphic works, has often been buff coloured. Bull's buff waistcoats, topcoats,"AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion,"

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

(2006), exhibition brochure, p. 2. trousers and boot uppers were typical of 18th- and 19th-century Englishmen. File:Tree_of_liberty.jpg, Early depiction of John Bull with the buff clothing typical of an 18th-century Englishman File:John Bull - World War I recruiting poster.jpeg, John Bull wearing buff dress boot uppers File:The Great Rapprochement.jpg, John Bull wearing buff trousers

17th-century military uniforms

File:HGM Saal 1 Musketiere und Pikeniere.jpg, Buff German uniforms File:Footpath to Hall Hill, near West Keal - geograph.org.uk - 717980.jpg, Dry vegetation in Europe

=The British army

= The Royal East Kent Regiment was nicknamed "The Buffs" from the colour of their waistcoats. The phrase "Steady the Buffs!", popularised by

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)'' The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

in his 1888 work ''

Soldiers Three ''Soldiers Three'' is a collection of short stories by Rudyard Kipling. The three soldiers of the title are Learoyd, Mulvaney and Ortheris, who had also appeared previously in the collection ''Plain Tales from the Hills''. The current version, ...

'', has its origins during 2nd Battalion's garrison duties in Malta. Adjutant Cotter, not wanting to be shown up in front of his former regiment, the 21st Royal (North British) Fusiliers, spurred his men on with the words: "Steady, the Buffs! The Fusiliers are watching you." File:Soldier of 3rd regiment 1742.jpg, Soldier of The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) wearing "a new Red Coat lin'd with a Buff colour'd lining, .... Breeches of the same colour as the Coat lining."

U.S. Army

The uniform of the American

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

was buff and blue. Buff is the traditional colour of the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps. The

U.S. Army Institute of Heraldry The Institute of Heraldry, officially The Institute of Heraldry, Department of the Army, is an activity of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army solely responsible for furnishing heraldic services to President of the Unite ...

specifies a "buff"

tincture A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...

for certain

coats of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in i ...

, often treating it as a metal for purposes of the

rule of tincture The most basic rule of heraldic design is the rule of tincture: metal should not be put on metal, nor colour on colour ( Humphrey Llwyd, 1568). This means that the heraldic metals or and argent (gold and silver, represented by yellow and white) ...

. File:Infantry, Continental Army, 1779-1783.jpg, Continental Army uniforms: "The Buff and Blue" File:Chevron - Quartermaster Sergeant 1902-1909.png, US chevron - quartermaster sergeant insignia (1902-1909) buff on black with blue detail. File:43rdSBSSI.svg, USAIH illustration which specifies "a buff colored vertical rectangular embroidered item"

U.S. universities, fraternities and schools

The colours of

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , presi ...

and Hamilton College are buff and blue, modelled on the military uniform of General

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

and the Continental Army. Both General Washington and Alexander Hamilton, as chief of staff, had a role in the design of the uniforms. Other school colours described as "buff and blue" include

Gallaudet University Gallaudet University ( ) is a private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. for the education of the Hearing loss, deaf and hard of hearing. It was founded in 1864 as a gramma ...

in Washington, D.C., and

Punahou School Punahou School (known as Oahu College until 1934) is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school in Honolulu, Hawaii. More than 3,700 students attend the school from kindergarten through 12th grade. Protestant missionaries establis ...

in Honolulu, Hawaii. Buff is one of three colours of the Alpha Gamma Delta fraternity, and one of two colours of the

Delta Chi Delta Chi () is an international Greek letter collegiate social fraternity formed on October 13, 1890, at Cornell University, initially as a professional fraternity for law students. On April 30, 1922, Delta Chi became a general membership soc ...

fraternity. File:George Washington by Peale 1776.jpg, General Washington wearing the buff and blue File:George_Washington_University.jpg, George Washington University banners featuring the buff and blue George Washington Colonials logo.svg, The buff and blue logo of the George Washington University Colonials

U.S. state flags

The flags of

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent ...

and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

, and the former flags of New York and

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and nor ...

, officially feature buff. File:Flag of Delaware.svg, The flag of Delaware includes "a background of colonial blue surrounding a diamond of buff" File:Flag of New Jersey.svg, The flag of New Jersey has "the State seal ... in Jersey blue on a buff background" File:Flag of New York (1778-1901).svg, Former flag of New York (until 1901) File:Flag of Maine (1901–1909).png, The

1901 Maine Flag Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

flown from 1901 to 1909

Political usage

The colours of the Whig Party, a British political faction, and later

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

, as well as the American Whig Party, were buff and blue. File:Le_coup_de_maitre.jpg, Depiction of the Whig

Charles James Fox Charles James Fox (24 January 1749 – 13 September 1806), styled '' The Honourable'' from 1762, was a prominent British Whig statesman whose parliamentary career spanned 38 years of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He was the arch-ri ...

wearing buff and blue

White Star buff

The funnels of the RMS ''Titanic'' and all other ships of the

White Star Line The White Star Line was a British shipping company. Founded out of the remains of a defunct packet company, it gradually rose up to become one of the most prominent shipping lines in the world, providing passenger and cargo services between ...

were designated to be "buff with a black top" in order to indicate their ownership. There is some uncertainty among experts, however, as to the exact shade of what is now called "White Star buff". There is no surviving paint or formula, and although there are many painted postcards and at least seven colour photographs of White Star liners, the shades of the funnels in these varies due to many factors including the conditions under which they were originally made and the ageing of the pigments in which they were printed. Speaking mostly to

scale model A scale model is a physical model which is geometrically similar to an object (known as the prototype). Scale models are generally smaller than large prototypes such as vehicles, buildings, or people; but may be larger than small prototypes ...

lers, the Titanic Research and Modelling Association currently recommend a colour "in the range of the

Marschall Marschall is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Adolf Marschall von Bieberstein (1842–1912), German politician and Secretary of State of the Foreign Office of the German Empire * Friedrich August Marschall von Bieberstein (1768 ...

color", meaning the colour in illustrations in a particular book. As a relatively inexpensive and readily available paint colour, and one which went well alongside the near-universal black

hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

and white superstructure used on steamships at the time, White Star was far from the only shipping line to use a shade of buff as a funnel colour. The Orient Line and

Norddeutscher Lloyd Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL; North German Lloyd) was a German shipping company. It was founded by Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann in Bremen on 20 February 1857. It developed into one of the most important German shipping companies of ...

used an entirely buff funnel without the black top, while Canadian Pacific and the Swedish American Line employed a buff funnel with a representation of the company's house flag on them. The Bibby Line and the

Fyffes Line Fyffes Line was the name given to the fleet of passenger-carrying banana boats owned and operated by the UK banana importer Elders & Fyffes Limited. History With the formation of Elders & Fyffes Ltd in 1901 it was necessary to procure suitable ...

are two of several firms to use the same "buff with a black top" scheme as White Star, but with a similar lack of certainty as to the exact shade used and how this differed from the famous White Star scheme. File:Colorful Oceanic.jpg, Ships of the White Star Line, such as the RMS ''Oceanic'' pictured here, and the ''Titanic,'' had buff funnels with black tops.

In Canadian heraldry

As well as being a colour used by the United States Army Institute of Heraldry, buff is also recognised as a

by the Canadian Heraldic Authority. It appears on the

heraldic badge A heraldic badge, emblem, impresa, device, or personal device worn as a badge indicates allegiance to, or the property of, an individual, family or corporate body. Medieval forms are usually called a livery badge, and also a cognizance. They are ...

and flag of the Correctional Service of Canada.

References

{{Heraldry Quaternary colors Shades of brown Shades of yellow Shades of orange Colours (heraldry) Metals (heraldry) hi:भूरा#बादामी