However, the term was not widely adopted until after World War II, and its late adoption was partly why we still see あおい used to describe things that are green. The Japanese language only got its unique word for green, みどり (緑) during the Heian period, which was between 7. Because there was no seperation between the two until recently, even in modern times, the word “aoi” is still used to describe objects that are green, like green apples (青りんご) or green traffic lights (青信号). In the past, Japanese people considered blue and green as one color called 青い.
As a result, when they become adjectives, they are “黄色い” and “茶色い” instead “黄い” or “茶い” Blue and Green: 青い In fact, the Japanese word for 茶 (cha) means tea.They have to be put together with the word “色 (iro colors) to become nouns for yellow and brown. You might think: they are formatted exactly the same way as other (native Japanese) colors, so why didn’t we not put them together with the four main colors above? This is because although meaning yellow and brown color, “黄” and “茶” cannot be on themselves when used as colors. There are two more colors that can become Japanese adjectives: 黄色 (kiiro) and 茶色 (chairo). Take a look at some of the few language conundrums. We’re not trying to make things complicated, but if you dig deeper into the Japanese language, you’ll find that colors in Japanese aren’t as “innocent” as they seem. For example, different shades of blue in the past are now purple, gray and green. Rather than actual colors, these words are used to group particular hues and shades. Murasaki (むらさき) was once a name of a plant but eventually became a color name for purple, too. Ki (黄) paints in shades of yellow, gold and lighter brown. The word あか covers a spectrum of dark red, orange and yellow, with lighter yellow colors grouped to しろ. Kuro (くろ) and shiro (しろ) are used to describe things that are dark and light - cool and warm. The same can be seen in other basic color wheels. So why only four, and why are these colors special? It is because only four colors existed as the basic forms of color in the ancient Japanese language - or, at least, acknowledged: 白 shiro (white), 黒 kuro (black), 赤 aka (red) and 青 ao (blue). For example:Ĭheck out: Beginner’s Guide to Japanese Adjectives: な and い Adjectives A Brief Guide on Japanese Colors To use Japanese colors as adjectives, you can use them directly in front of a subject. Surprisingly, there are only 4 colors that will become an adjective when “い” is added directly to the back.
Japanese Colors as AdjectivesĬolor can also be used as adjectives. Why do we use の instead of な? For the answer, head to our article on the dilemma of な-adjectives and の-adjectives. Green window (usually referring to the ticket office at a train station in Japan) The basic sentence pattern for describing colors is color + の + subject. If you are not familiar with particles in Japanese, we recommend you to take a look at our basic Japanese grammar guide. As a result, the particle “ の(no)” is used when describing the color of something. These words above are nouns that refer to different colors. Japanese color Nouns for Basic Colors in Japanese English
Red swan in japanese how to#
In this article, we will explain to you how to describe objects with colors in Japanese.Ĭlick here to join our 30 day challenge to learn hiragana! This can be very confusing for beginners in Japanese as to what context is appropriate to use which version. Even Japanese people will often opt for the loanword, オレンジ, instead of using the traditional Japanese word: 橙色 (daidaiiro). Most colors in Japanese end with 色 except for a few exceptions and words borrowed from English.įor example, the color “blue” can be both 青い (aoi) and ブルー (buruu).Īnother example is the color orange. Having two sets – one set is the Japanese – the other being a katakana loan word version of their There are two ways: one set is the Japanese one, and the other is a katakana loan word version of their English counterparts. In Japanese, the words for specific colors are used differently depending on their parts of speech. Granted, a lot of Japanese vocabulary is borrowed from English, which makes it easy for us to memorize them - but in Japanese culture, colors take an important part if representing feelings, rituals and ceremonies. Primary colors in Japanese seem easy and straightforward, but you’d be surprised by how much culture and history go behind them.
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