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

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 ...

, ochreous colour, typical of buff leather. Buff is a mixture of yellow ochre and

white White is the lightness, 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 diffuse reflection, reflect and scattering, scatter all the ...

: 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'' 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 The Battle of Edgehill (or Edge Hill) was a pitched battle of the First English Civil War. It was fought near Edge Hill and Kineton in southern Warwickshire on Sunday, 23 October 1642. All attempts at constitutional compromise between ...

(1642) of Sir Edmund Verney noted "he would neither put on arms rmouror buff coat the day of the battle". Such buff leather 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 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 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 loess

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

Many

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), 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 ...

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. 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 countries. ...

s File:Buff-banded Rail LEI Jan08.jpg, The buff-banded rail File:Theristicus caudatus (Coclí) (5145728595).jpg, The buff-necked ibis File:Tangara cayana1.jpg, The

burnished-buff tanager The burnished-buff tanager (''Stilpnia cayana''), also known as the rufous-crowned tanager, is a common South American species of bird in the family Thraupidae. Distribution and habitat It is found in the northern Guianas, most of Venezuela and ...

In culture

Architecture

In areas where buff raw materials are available, buff walls and buildings may be found. Cotswold stone 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 breeds, 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". Definition ...

s, buff waistcoats ("vests" in American English), were considered proper casual wear. 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 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 100 ...

(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 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, d ...

'', 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 was buff and blue. Buff is the traditional colour of the

U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps The United States Army Quartermaster Corps, formerly the Quartermaster Department, is a sustainment, formerly combat service support (CSS), branch of the United States Army. It is also one of three U.S. Army logistics branches, the others being t ...

. The U.S. Army Institute of Heraldry specifies a "buff" tincture for certain coats of arms, often treating it as a metal for purposes of the rule of tincture. 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 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 in Washington, D.C., and Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii. Buff is one of three colours of the Alpha Gamma Delta fraternity, and one of two colours of the Delta Chi 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 adjacen ...

and

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

, and the former flags of New York and

Maine Maine () is a U.S. state, state in the New England and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and territories of Canad ...

, 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 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 political ideology ...

, 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-riv ...

wearing buff and blue

White Star buff

The funnels of the RMS ''Titanic'' and all other ships of the White Star Line 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 modellers, the Titanic Research and Modelling Association currently recommend a colour "in the range of the Marschall 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 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 suitabl ...

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 tincture by the

Canadian Heraldic Authority The Canadian Heraldic Authority (CHA; french: Autorité héraldique du Canada) is part of the Canadian honours system under the Monarchy of Canada, Canadian monarch, whose authority is exercised by the Governor General of Canada. The authority i ...

. It appears on the heraldic badge and flag of the

Correctional Service of Canada The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC; french: Service correctionnel du Canada), also known as Correctional Service Canada or Corrections Canada, is the Government of Canada, Canadian federal government agency responsible for the incarceration ...

References

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