The shade maize or corn refers to a specific tone of yellow; it is named for the cereal of the same name—maize (called corn in the United States and Canada). In public usage, maize can be applied to a variety of shades, ranging from light yellow to a dark shade that borders on orange, since the color of maize (the actual corn) may vary.
The first recorded use of maize as a color name in English was in 1861.[2]
"Light maize in color, this wildflower is found only now and then in our area, and treasured for its rarity. The three clumps, two near the east fence under a thriving red-stemmed dogwood and one beside a weathered stump, gave us a thrill last spring with their first buds."[3]
"For slow cases, one can use the method... in which a solution of thymol blue has had its pH value adjusted so that it is maize in color and any slight increase in the acidity will make the solution turn blue."[4]
Maize is one of the two colors used by the University of Michigan Wolverines (the other being blue) although the actual shade of yellow used has varied over time; however, it always approaches the color of corn.[5] The athletic colors of Carleton College are also maize and blue.
^The color displayed in the color box above matches the color called maize in the 1930 book by Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill; the color maize is displayed on page 43, Plate 10, Color Sample G5.
^Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 198; Color Sample of Maize: Page 43 Plate 10 Color Sample G5
^Rodale, Jerome Irving (1965). Organic gardening. Rodale Press. p. 54.
