Leaves turn yellow or red in autumn?

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I wonder which of the following two expressions is more acceptable to English-speaking people.

1) Leaves turn yellow in autumn.
2) Leaves turn red in autumn.

Thanks for your response. Mad

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they do both, actually -- so both statements are correct Smile

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Thanks a lot.

But any difference between them? Embarrassed

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It depends on the type of tree, ilovequestions.

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I would say...

Leaves turn color in the autumn

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technically speaking, leaves turn yellow, and then they turn red in the autumn... at least around these parts they do...

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RP - do you want me to go into my full Environmental Sciences degree-yakking mode and talk about which leaves turn which colours? Nah, didn't think so. No one ever enjoys that, unless they're already an E.S nerd. Confused

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I like the turning colours options.

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nah -- save it for a rainy day, ehBeth...

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Just for the record, some leaves turn RED and some leaves turn YELLOW.[/color] Yellow's hard to see on my screen -- hope it's clear to you.

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That time of year thou may'st in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none or few do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold
Bare ruined choirs where late the sweet bird sang

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There is a large maple in my moms backyard that turns the most beautiful orange, the tree is about 45-50 yrs old...the trunk is almost totally black. Every fall I wait for it to turn, but seem to miss it somehow and never get a picture. It only lasts a few days at the peak of it's color richness...then the leaves fall in mass.

There is a wallpaper that comes with winxp...showing a driveway/road lined with maples. I think those are all silver maples...the picture is a bit blurry...some of the trunks appear to be black but I think it's due to lack of light, rather than the actual bark being black.

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oh 2packs, that's my favorite time I year....it's when I feel most alive.

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Thank you a million for your informative replies.

Is it a possible explanation that a typical English speaker may use yellow and red to refer to the same kind of color in this case?

Or rather, these two words may be used interchangeably or just depending on personal preferences?

For example, in Classical Chinese, to my knowledge, "qing" (green) and "hei"(black) can mean the same color historically, but now refer to two entirely different colors in Modern Chinese.

Moreover, in Modern Chinese, "huang"(yellow) may hint that something decays, but "hong"(red" may connote that something is in its boyance. So, yellow and red take on quite different associative meanings. Is this similar in English? I cannot sense this nuance as a non-native English speaker. Embarrassed

Thanks again.

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Notice too that some leaves turn color whereas others turn colour.

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It depends on which continent the tree is growing on.

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ilove, from what I've read, Chinese (and Japanese) are much more allusive than English. Two or three thousand years of poetic and literary references do that. Colors and objects all carry a subsidiary wight of meaning and reference. Pretty much when English speakers refer to trees turning red or yellow, they're just referring to the actual color. Some kinds of trees, particularly maples, turn red. Other trees don't, yellow, or perhaps golden, is what they do. They may be gorgeous, but it's pretty much visual, not freighted with meaning (tho there is that autumnal transience and maybe the coming of death and winter, but I don't think it reflects in the choice of description of color--that has more to do with botany).

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ilovequestions wrote:

Thank you a million for your informative replies.

Is it a possible explanation that a typical English speaker may use yellow and red to refer to the same kind of color in this case?

Or rather, these two words may be used interchangeably or just depending on personal preferences?

For example, in Classical Chinese, to my knowledge, "qing" (green) and "hei"(black) can mean the same color historically, but now refer to two entirely different colors in Modern Chinese.

Moreover, in Modern Chinese, "huang"(yellow) may hint that something decays, but "hong"(red" may connote that something is in its boyance. So, yellow and red take on quite different associative meanings. Is this similar in English? I cannot sense this nuance as a non-native English speaker.

Thanks again.

Nope, it's just based on a visual. Leaves turn red, yellow, orange or brown. Some leaves might turn a combination of colors or might not have fully changed from green before they fall to the ground, but English speakers will not say red when they are seeing yellow. Note, though, that in-between colors might be perceived slightly differently by people. A very reddish orange might be called red by some and orange by others, and red-orange or orange-red by still other people. Basic color names aren't adequate for describing all of the colors that we can see.

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very interesting questions ilove....

as jespah said, trees in the autumn turn many different colors....red, yellow, brown, some stay greenish.

if an english speaker heard someone say, "the leaves turned yellow" they will pictures leaves turning just that color....if they heard someone say "the leaves turned colors", they will imagine trees with all different colors.

You'll notice some people spell the work color, others colour....color is generally the way americans spell it.

In this case, all these colors of the leaves tend to make me very happy. The colors are festive and remind me the holiday season is coming. Also, it is a sign of the weather getting cooler, which I love.

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This is going to sound odd but there are absolutely no references in the 16th or 17th century european or colonial descriptions of New England to the trees turning color in the fall. The assumption is that people did not think it significant or literally did not see them. In the 18th and early 19th century many european visitors to New England at first assumed that the color turn indicated some sort of disease. It was not until the romantic movement in literature and art in the middle of the 19th century that the fall colors were thought to be notable.

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ilovequestions wrote:

Moreover, in Modern Chinese, "huang"(yellow) may hint that something decays, but "hong"(red" may connote that something is in its boyance. So, yellow and red take on quite different associative meanings. Is this similar in English? I cannot sense this nuance as a non-native English speaker.

Thanks again.

Our colors do represent other things as well, literally and figuratively

Red - Anger or Heat or Stop
Green - Envy or Life or Go
Yellow - Cowardice or Caution
Blue - Sadness or Cold or A Boy
Pink - A Girl
White - Purity or Cleanliness
Brown - Earthy or Plain
Black - Death or Evilness or Power
Purple - Royalty or Passion

And I'm sure there are many others, those are off the top of my head.

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Leaves turn yellow or red in autumn?

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