red hat

The term **"red hat"** can refer to several things depending on context:

1. **Red Hat, Inc.** – A prominent American software company known for developing and maintaining open-source enterprise solutions, especially the **Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)** operating system.

2. **De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats (Red Hat)** – In Edward de Bono’s creativity and decision-making framework, the *red hat* represents emotions, feelings, and intuition.

3. **General meaning** – Literally, a hat that is red in color, sometimes used symbolically (for example, in the *Red Hat Society*, a social group for women over a certain age who wear red hats and purple clothing for fun and fellowship).

Each meaning depends on context, but the most common modern reference is to *Red Hat, Inc.*, the open-source software company.