Cultural Meanings
In Asia, yellow represents a sacred and imperial feeling. In Western countries, yellow represents joy and happiness. In Egypt and Burma yellow represents mourning. In India, it is the symbol for a merchant or farmer. The native Americans interpreted yellow to symbolize love and overcoming challenges.
Fun Facts
In stained glass, yellow represents the sun and the treasure of heaven. Yellow is used as a warning color in traffic lights. If you dream of the color yellow it symbolizes struggles before achievement is reached. A yellow rose means friendship. A yellow-belly means coward.
History
Women wore yellow ribbons as a sign of hope for men to return from the war.* In the War of Dynasty (1357), each warrior wore a yellow chrysanthemum as a pledge of courage. In the Middle Ages, actors wore yellow to portray a dead person.
Sports
Yellow balls were used in baseball before they were used in tennis. The Brooklyn Dodgers played three games with a yellow baseball before they started using white.*
Quote
“There are many painters who can make the sun become a spot of yellow paint, but only an artist can make a spot of yellow paint become the sun.” –Hans Hoffman*
Music
“Yellow Submarine” (Beatles), “Mellow Yellow” (Donovan Leitch), “Yellow Polka-dot Bikini” (Brian Hyland) , "Yellow rose of Texas" (Don George)
Contrasting and Complimentary Colors
The contrasting color for yellow is purple. The strongest visible contrast is black on yellow. Many traffic signs have this color combination.