Learn English – White-orange or orange-white? Which color comes first

word-order

When referring to something, (electrical wires, in my case) and it is half white and half other color, do you put White or the other color first?

I want to describe the color of these wires as ONE word/phrase. They are all half white and half other color (orange, green, blue, brown, etc).

So would I say "Please grab that white-orange cable" or would I say "grab that orange-white cable"? I would imagine you put whichever color is more first, but the white and orange are equally divided. Not sure if what I'm saying makes sense…

Best Answer

In certain domains, there are conventions which I would suggest take precedence. The convention with network cables you mentioned would certainly be to list the "color" of the cable first combined with "-white" after.

In cases where there are no clear conventions, I would suggest using two rules:

  • Are there features that are common (such as the white part of the cables)? If so, those are less distinguishing and should be placed at the end.
  • Is one of the colors more dominant? For example, is there just a white stripe rather than a relatively even split of the two colors? Let the dominant color come first in your speaking.
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