The vocabulary course of the day deals with the name of colors. Before I begin, I would like to draw your attention to one point : in Japanese, there is a difference between the names of the colors and the adjective. In English, there is no difference. If I tell you "the sky is blue" and "the blue sky", it’s the same thing. In Japanese, it’s a little different. The Japanese differentiate between the noun and the adjective. We will see what the adjectives are much later but for now we will stay focused on the names of the colors.
I leave you with the vocabulary words below. Remember to pay attention to the comments below, which are there to help you better understand how Japanese perceive colors and especially shades. You will see, it is very original and even poetic !
赤 .
あか
. red
青 .
あお
. blue
黄色い .
きいろい
. yellow
オレンジ色 .
オレンジいろ
. orange
橙色 .
だいだいいろ
. orange
紫 .
むらさき
. purple
緑 .
みどり
. green
白 .
しろ
. white
黒 .
くろ
. black
灰色 .
はいいろ
. grey
ピンク
. pink
桃色 .
ももいろ
. light pink
茶色 .
チャいろ
. brown
ベージュ
. beige
クリーム色 .
クリームいろ
. cream color
アイボリー色 .
アイボリーいろ
. ivory color
薄紫色 .
うすむらさきいろ
. purple
モーブ
. purple
藤色 .
ふじいろ
. pale mauve, pale violet
マゼンタ
. magenta
紅 .
くれない
. crimson
シアン
. cyan
水色 .
みずいろ
. light blue
インディゴ
. indigo
金色 .
きんいろ
. gold color
The Japanese language has two words to say "orange". We have 橙色 . だいだいいろ and オレンジ色 . オレンジいろ . 橙 . だいだい , the name of a small orange typical of Japan and オレンジ is a foreign term, taken from English, which has been katakanized. The most used term today is オレンジ色 . オレンジいろ.
In the word 灰色 . はいいろ, we have the kanji 灰 . はい which means "the ashes", therefore literally "the color of the ashes".
In the word 桃色 . ももいろ, we have the kanji of 桃 . もも which means "peach". Combined with the kanji of 色 . いろ, it literally means "the color of the peach" so "light pink".
In the word 茶色 . チャいろ, we have the kanji of 茶色 . チャ which means "tea". Combined with the kanji of 色 . いろ, it literally means "the color of tea" so "brown".
In the word 薄紫色 . うすむらさきいろ , we have the kanji of 薄 . うす which means "sweet", then we have the kanji of 紫 . むらさき which means "purple". Combined with the kanji of 色 .いろ, this literally means "the color of a faded purple" therefore "purple".
In the word 藤色 . ふじいろ , we have the kanji of 藤 . ふじ which means "wisteria". Attention, by "wisteria", I speak of the plant (because I know that many confuse with the chemical formula of the same name, here I speak of the plant!). Combined with the kanji of 色 . いろ, this literally means "the color of wisteria" therefore "pale mauve".
In the word 紅 . くれない , we have the kanji of 紅 which we find in a word like 紅葉 . もみじ which means "maple" whose leaves turn red in the fall, hence the kanji meaning "red leaves". It is also found in the word 口紅 . くちべに which means "lipstick". I strongly recommend that you remember this kanji, you will find it in other vocabulary words later.
In the word 水色 . みずいろ, we have the kanji of 水 . みず which means "water". Combined with the kanji of 色 . いろ, it literally means "the color of the water" therefore "light blue".
In the word 金色 . きんいろ, we have the kanji of 金 . きん which means "gold". Combined with the kanji of 色 . いろ, literally means "the color of gold".
Good! We are finally at the end of this list. You may have noticed that this course contains a lot of comments on many combinations of kanji that we have just seen and I hope that you paid attention to it as I told you to do at the beginning of the course.
I would add that certain combinations of kanji can also be read in Sino-Japanese reading. For example, the word 黄色い . きいろい in Sino-Japanese is read オウショク and the word 灰色 . はいいろ is read カイショク. Of course, the most used reading remains purely Japanese reading.
We have seen a very large number of colors and shades but we still have a lot to discover on this side. I did not put everything to you because it is necessary that you acquire more vocabulary, little by little. I will add other vocabulary words on colors in other lists as I go along.
Now this course is over ! I hope you enjoyed this course on the name of colors. Take your time to read it again as often as necessary and I wish you good luck with your revisions.
Introduction