Olive colour takes its name from the olive tree (Olea europaea) — one of the oldest cultivated trees in human history, central to Mediterranean civilisation for over 7,000 years. The tree's leaves (grey-green above, silver below) and ripening fruit (yellow-green to purple-black) encompass a range of olive tones that have permeated Mediterranean visual culture.

Earthy, complex, and enduring. Olive is green weighed down by earth — it has none of the freshness of spring green, but a mature, settled quality. Associated with the Mediterranean landscape, antiquity, and the persistence of old civilisations. More complex than either pure green or pure brown, it occupies a zone of visual richness.

The olive branch is the universal symbol of peace — from Noah's dove returning with an olive branch to the United Nations emblem. "Olive drab" — the specific yellow-green-grey of military uniforms — was adopted by the US Army in 1902 for camouflage in woodland environments. Van Gogh painted olive groves obsessively during his time in Provence, writing that the olive tree "is as variable as our northern willow in its movement" — seeing in it a symbol of endurance and adaptability.