Find a Florist

Floriography

Tulip Flower Meaning: What Each Color Symbolizes and Where It Comes From

Written by

Published Updated 3 min read

Share

See updates and corrections

Tulips mean different things by color: some meanings are Victorian, others are modern florist readings. The page also covers the tulip's history.

Mixed red, pink, yellow and orange tulips with long green stems seen from below against a blue skySave

In Short

Tulips mean fame, red a declaration of love, yellow once hopeless love and now cheer, and orange, white, pink and purple as modern florist readings for celebrations, apologies, get-well wishes and admiration. We traced every meaning to its Victorian or modern source, and Ottomans prized tulips long before Dutch tulipmania.

  • Send red tulips for Valentine's Day or to declare your love, a meaning that goes back to the Victorians.
  • Send yellow tulips for sunshine, cheer and friendship, and know that the Victorians read them as hopeless love.
More Takeaways
  • Orange suits celebrations, birthdays and thank-you gifts, white suits an apology, and pink suits graduations, new jobs and get-well visits.

By Color

Tulip Meanings by Color

Although meanings have been attributed to flowers for thousands of years, the language of flowers has been well-documented since Victorian times.

Tulip flower meanings are primarily separated by their different colors. While there are many to choose from, the only type you won’t find is blue tulips. No tulip is blue across the whole petal; blue shows only at the base of the inner petals on some flowers.

Color Meanings
ColorMeaning
Red TulipsThe Victorians read red tulips as a declaration of love, and they also signify passion.
Orange TulipsFlorists today read orange tulips as joy and enthusiasm.
Yellow TulipsTo the Victorians, the yellow tulip meant hopeless love.
White TulipsFlorists read white tulips as purity and a fresh start.
Pink TulipsPink is the color of good wishes, health, and confidence.
Purple TulipsFlorists today read purple tulips as royalty, a modern reading with no Victorian entry, and purple flowers symbolize royalty.

Red Tulips

Red tulips with dark green leaves growing in a dense bed, some in sharp focus and others blurredSave
Red Tulips
Where This Comes From
Kate Greenaway, The Language of Flowers (1884): a declaration of love; the Old Farmer's Almanac chart

The Victorians read red tulips as a declaration of love, and they also signify passion. They make wonderful gifts for Valentine’s Day.

Red tulips are also tied to a Persian love legend, a popular folk tale about Farhad and Shirin retold on florist and lifestyle sites, though the tulip does not appear in the poem. The main characters of this legend are Farhad and his beloved princess, Shirin. In the poem, Shirin visits Farhad at Mount Bisutun.

In the poem, the king spreads a false rumour that Shirin has died, and Farhad, consumed with grief, throws himself off the mountain; the tulip version is a later folk telling. In the folk version told by florists, red tulips grew where his blood fell, and no old text tells this story.

In Feng Shui belief, red tulips in the home are said to bring wealth and love. To the Victorians, the tulip in general meant fame.

Orange Tulips

Orange tulip in sharp focus among more orange tulips and green leaves in a softly blurred garden bedSave
Orange Tulips
Where This Comes From
A modern florist reading; no Victorian dictionary records it

Florists today read orange tulips as joy and enthusiasm.

They're also used to convey understanding and a mutual connection between two people, in a relationship or not.

They are ideal for celebrations, birthdays, and thank-you gifts.

Yellow Tulips

Three bright yellow tulips with green leaves against a dark backgroundSave
Yellow Tulips
Where This Comes From
Kate Greenaway, The Language of Flowers (1884): hopeless love; cheer is a modern florist reading

To the Victorians, the yellow tulip meant hopeless love. Yellow tulips are read as sunshine and cheer, with 'Sunshine in your smile' as the message.

Florists today read yellow tulips as sunlight, cheer and friendship, a modern reading with no Victorian entry.

In Feng Shui belief, a yellow tulip in the front garden is said to invite luck.

White Tulips

Bunch of white tulips with green leaves wrapped in brown kraft paper on a wooden tableSave
White Tulips
Where This Comes From
A modern florist reading; no Victorian dictionary records it

Florists read white tulips as purity and a fresh start. Similarly, these beautiful flowers are excellent picks for an apology bouquet.

Pink Tulips

Pink tulips with green leaves in a tall glass jar tied with raffia, beside a wicker basket and garden toolsSave
Pink Tulips
Where This Comes From
A modern florist reading; no Victorian dictionary records it

Pink is the color of good wishes, health, and confidence. This makes pink tulips a great way to congratulate someone on graduation or a new job.

They can also mean that you wish someone a speedy recovery. This makes them excellent when visiting a sick relative or friend as a get-well gift.

Purple Tulips

Dense field of deep purple tulips on bright green stems with some darker maroon bloomsSave
Where This Comes From
A modern florist reading; no Victorian dictionary records it

Florists today read purple tulips as royalty, a modern reading with no Victorian entry, and purple flowers symbolize royalty.

Where Tulips Come From and How They Became Dutch

Wild tulips come from Central Asia, and the Ottomans prized them before the Dutch tulip trade began. The tulipmania of 1633 to 1637 ended in the February 1637 crash of bulb prices.

WhenWhat happened
Before cultivationWild tulips grow across Central Asia and Kazakhstan, home to about 70 species
Mid-16th centuryTulips begin to appear on Ottoman objects, many modeled on Iznik ceramics
16th centuryBusbecq, envoy to the court of Süleyman I, writes of tulips; Clusius, in Leiden, sends tulip seeds and bulbs north and starts the bulb trade
1633 to 1637Tulipmania in the Dutch Republic
February 1637Bulb prices peak, then crash

Tulips in Ottoman Art and Islamic Folklore

Where This Comes From
Ottoman objects in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; the Allah-letters reading is folk etymology

The tulip appears in Ottoman and Islamic material, on Ottoman objects and in a reading of the word for tulip.

Tulips appear on Ottoman objects, notably Iznik ceramics, from the middle of the 16th century. In Ottoman Turkish, the word for tulip, lale, is written with the same letters as the word for God, Allah. The match is between the Arabic letters of the two words.

On a 16th-century Iznik dish a pair of tulips is the focal point, and the tulip stands for modesty before God because a full bloom bows its head.

Tulips are a common spring custom at Easter, not a meaning any source records.

From Our Florist Comparisons

Checked Oct 15, 2026

Tulip Bouquets to Send

From national florists we’ve ordered from and reviewedDelivered prices include fees

Chosen independently. Some links earn us a commission, at no cost to you. Learn more

Compare Online Florists

What Tulips Symbolize

People have admired this bulb for hundreds of years. Tulips make a good gift, and their meaning depends on the color.

For more flower meanings by flower, see our guides to gladiolus symbolism and lotus flower meaning.

To send tulips, see where to send flowers.

Questions and Answers

What was tulip mania?

Tulip mania was a speculative bubble in tulip bulbs that peaked in February 1637 and then crashed, with prices falling by roughly 90 percent. The number of people involved was much smaller than often claimed, and the economic damage was less severe than the popular story suggests.

Is there a blue tulip?

A tulip petal is not blue overall. Some tulips show blue only at the base of the inner petals, caused by iron complexation with the pigment delphinidin 3-rutinoside.

Are tulips toxic to cats and dogs?

Yes, tulips are toxic to both cats and dogs, with the highest concentration of the toxic principles Tulipalin A and B in the bulb. Signs can include vomiting, depression, diarrhea, and hypersalivation. If you suspect your pet has eaten any part of a tulip, contact your veterinarian or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center.

Sources11 sources, linked in the text
  1. Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry: tulip colour study
  2. Greenaway, The Language of Flowers (1884)
  3. Aga Khan Museum: Khamseh of Nizami
  4. Old Farmer's Almanac: flower meanings
  5. Missouri Botanical Garden: Tulips of Central Asia
  6. British Library: Tulips, Dutch, Turkish or Flemish?
  7. Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien: Ottoman wooden plate
  8. Courtauld: The Quatre Fleurs
  9. Reviews in History: Goldgar, Tulipmania
  10. University of Chicago Press blog: Goldgar review
  11. ASPCA: Tulip
Updates and CorrectionsOct 19, 2026 · 3 corrected, 1 clarified, 1 removed

  • Added: The source behind each color meaning and a dated tulip history.
  • Corrected: One unsourced figure (a zone, count, size or date) was corrected to a source or removed.
  • Corrected: The page gave yellow tulips the meaning of jealousy. The Victorian dictionary records hopeless love; cheer and thanks are modern readings.
  • Corrected: The page said the tulip's shape spells Allah in Arabic numerals. The reading concerns Arabic letters and is folk etymology.
  • Clarified: Orange, white, pink and purple tulip meanings are modern florist readings, not Victorian ones.
  • Removed: Claims about tulips as Turkish symbols of paradise and Christian color symbolism, which no source supports.

Save and Share

Follow Petal Republic

Reader Comments

Have a question? Ask it here.

Add a Comment

Never shown or shared.

We use your details only to post this comment. Privacy Policy