Japanese/Vocabulary/Colors
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< Japanese | Vocabulary
| English | Japanese | Reading | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| red | 赤 | あか | |
| orange | 橙色 |
だいだいいろ オレンジ |
|
| yellow | 黄色 | きいろ | |
| green | 緑 | みどり | グリーン is also commonly used when referencing the color of clothing, shoes or other manufactured items. みどり however, is more often used when describing green that is found in nature (ie. green color found on leaves or grass) |
| light blue | 水色 | みずいろ | |
| blue | 青 | あお | あお originally encompassed both blue and green. It is mainly used for blue in modern times. The green traffic-light is called |
| purple | 紫 | むらさき | |
| brown | 茶色 | ちゃいろ | |
| white | 白 | しろ | |
| gray | グレー 灰色 鼠色 |
はいいろ ねずみいろ |
グレイ is used more colloquially than ねずみいろ or 灰色 which are traditional Japanese words, meaning mouse-color and ash color, respectively. |
| black | 黒 | くろ | |
| pink | ピンク 桃色 |
ももいろ |
ももいろ (lit. peach colour) is rarely used. |
- - Note that the six basic colors, black, white, red, yellow, brown, and blue are in their noun forms. Adding -い(-i) to the end of these colors will make them adjectives, allowing them to be placed before a noun.
