What do the colours of the Jordan flag mean?

Black: the Abbasid caliphate. White: the Umayyad caliphate. Green: the Fatimid caliphate. Red: the Hashemite dynasty and the Arab Revolt.

How do you tell the Jordan flag from the Palestine one?

Palestine's flag is identical except that it has no white star in the red triangle.

When was the Jordan flag adopted?

The current design dates from 1928, and its official ratio is 1:2.

The flag of Jordan

Three equal horizontal bands of black, white and green, with a red triangle at the hoist bearing a small white seven-pointed star.

Ratio 1:2 · current design adopted 1928

Jordan

This is the flag of the Arab Revolt of 1916 with a star added, and the three bands are a history lesson: each colour names a caliphate, and the red triangle names the dynasty that led the revolt and still reigns in Amman. Palestine flies the same flag without the star, which is the only difference between them. The star's seven points are usually explained by the seven verses of al-Fatiha. Jordan's version dates from 1928, under the Emirate of Transjordan.

Flags it gets confused with

Jordan

Palestine

Drawn at each flag’s own official ratio, which is itself the difference in some of these pairs.

Flag	How to tell them apart
Palestine	Palestine's flag is identical except that it has no white star in the red triangle.
Western Sahara	Adds a red star and crescent on the central white band.

What the colours mean

Flag laws usually specify a Pantone chip, a CMYK mix or just a colour name. Converting any of those to sRGB is lossy, which is why published hex values disagree.

The symbols on it

What	What it stands for
Seven-pointed star	The seven verses of the opening chapter of the Quran; also read as the unity of the Arab peoples

Ratio: 1:2
Current design adopted: 1928
Colours: black, white, green, red

Common questions

What does the flag of Jordan look like?: Three equal horizontal bands of black, white and green, with a red triangle at the hoist bearing a small white seven-pointed star.
What do the colours of the Jordan flag mean?: Black: the Abbasid caliphate. White: the Umayyad caliphate. Green: the Fatimid caliphate. Red: the Hashemite dynasty and the Arab Revolt.
How do you tell the Jordan flag from the Palestine one?: Palestine's flag is identical except that it has no white star in the red triangle.
When was the Jordan flag adopted?: The current design dates from 1928, and its official ratio is 1:2.

Jordan Capital, area, population and currency
The flag of Palestine Routinely mistaken for this one
Every flag with black in it
The flag of Germany Ratio 3:5
The flag of South Korea Ratio 2:3
The flag of South Africa Ratio 2:3
The flag of Jamaica Ratio 1:2
The flag of Egypt Ratio 2:3
The flag of Belgium Ratio 13:15
The flag of United Arab Emirates Ratio 1:2
The flag of Mozambique Ratio 2:3

Sources

The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency (Public domain (US Government))

How these figures are compiled and checked