Iro - Japanese Color Guide

Do you know the colors in Japanese? Talking about colors in the nihongo can be more complicated than it sounds. There are a couple of important points regarding its use. There can be several ways to speak a certain color in Japanese. 

Some colors were adapted from another language with their writing in katakana. Not to mention how to use them as an adjective or not. In this article, we will try to explain quickly and basicly the colors in the Japanese language.

Japanese Colors - Primary

The primary colors in Japanese are adjectives that end with the letter “i - い“. But, it is by no means wrong to write colors without the "i" there are some rules that we will see. Before we will see the primary color chart:

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Hiragana	Kanji	Rōmaji	English
あかい	赤い	akai	Red
あおい	青い	aoi	Blue green
きいろい	黄色い	kiiroi	Yellow
しろい	白い	shiroi	White
くろい	黒い	kuroi	black

We can notice the use of kanji iroi - 色 in yellow, which means color, while the other colors do not need it. So it's basically like you're saying: Yellow color rather than yellow. We will not discuss these small peculiarities.

You may have noticed that green and blue are the same thing, hope that later we will explain.

Adjective of colors in Japanese

To color things up, like any adjective that ends with “i”You simply put the noun in front.

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Hiragana	Kanji	Rōmaji	English
あかいくるま	赤い車	Akai Kuruma	A red car
きいろいほん	黄色い本	kiiroi hon	A yellow book
しろいマグ	白いマグ	shiroi magu	A white mug
くろいペン	黒いペン	kuroi pen	A black pen

However, when you want to say that a thing "is" a certain color, you must remove the "i" from the word. Example:

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Kanji	Rōmaji	English
車は赤です	kuruma wa aka desu	The car is red
本は黄色です	hon wa kiiro desu	The book is yellow
マグは白です	magu wa shiro desu	The mug is white
ペンは黒です	pen wa kuro desu	The pen is black

This rule applies only to primary colors, since there are other colors that are not adjectives “i“. You can also use the form without the “i”To refer to color.

You are not required to use the adjective “i” to refer to some things, such as:

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Kana	Kanji	Rōmaji	English
あかワイン	赤ワイン	akawain	Red wine
くろねこ	黒猫	Kuroneko	Black cat

Blue and Green in Japanese

In fact, there is the word 緑 (midori) which means green. however the word 青い can mean either “blue” or “green” according to the occasion. Aoi refers to all green and blue tones as an entire spectrum.

You can even notice the similarity between the colors blue and green, like in a car, some say they are green others say they are blue, that is the purpose of the word.

So, occasionally, when we go to call something green, the Japanese people use To. 

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Kana	Rōmaji	English
くさはあおです.	Kusa wa Ao desu.	The grass is green.
あおしんごう	aoshingo	green light (traffic signal)

Curiosity: Japanese traffic lights are actually a little bluish compared to those in the west.

The Japanese also consider the ocean To, which makes sense considering that sea water is as green up close as it is blue in the distance.

But don't forget that there is the word to refer to Green: "Midori" 緑

Other Colors in Japanese

The other colors are not adjectives “i“, And has no complications.

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Kana	Kanji	Rōmaji	English	Grades
こん- いろ	紺色	kon or koniro	dark blue	a tone of To (blue green)
みずいろ	水色	mizuiro	light blue	literally “the color of the water”, a shade of To.
みどり	緑	midori	green	even in the English sense - bright green and dark green, a shadow of To
むらさき	紫	murasaki	violet / purple	there is no distinction between “violet” and “purple” in Japanese
オレンジ (オレンジいろ)		orenji (orenjiiro)	orange	a similar color is daidaiiro (dark orange)
ピンク		pinku	rose	a similar color is Momoiro"Peach color"
ちゃいろ	茶色	chairo	Brown	literally “tea color”
はいいろ	灰色	Haiiro	Grey	literally “gray color”, another word is nezumiiro "Color rat"
きんいろ	金色	kin'iro	gold	kin is the "gold" metal
ぎんいろ	銀色	gin'iro	silver	gin is the "silver" metal
せいどう		seidou	Scarlet
しゅいろ	深緑	shuiro	green	Dark green
あかねいろ		akaneiro	Bronze
ももいろ	桃色	momoiro	rose	momo means peach, and the peach is pink.
ベージュ	黄緑	be-ju kimidori	Kiss	Kimimidori means yellow green
グレー		Gure	Grey
だいだいいろ	橙色	Daidaiiro	Dark orange
あいいろ	藍色	Aiiro	Indigo Blue
こげちゃいろ	焦げ茶色	Kogechairo	Brown
やまぶきいろ	茶色	Yamabukiiro	Bright yellow
ターコイズ	銅色	Ta-koizu	Lilac	(Kanji is Akaganeiro)

Many colors, it is a normal word (like Gold and Peach) + [color 色]. So if you want to say that one thing is the color of another, you say [Word] + [Iro 色.]

Japanese color example sentences

Unlike the colors that have the adjective "i" in most cases you will need to use the particle "no" の to say that something has a certain color. Examples:

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Kana	Rōmaji	English
みどりのかばん	Midori no kaban	Green bag
紫の自転車	Murasaki no jitensha	Purple Bicycle

Remembering that the way of saying that a thing is a certain color, remains the same. Example: 自転車は紫です - Jitensha wa murasaki desu.

And To ask “what color” is a thing, you can use the word question nani-iro.

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Kana	Rōmaji	English
何色ですか.	Nani-iro desu ka?	What color is this?
オレンジです.	Orenji desu.	And orange.

Well, that was a little explanation of colors in Japanese. I hope you enjoyed it, leave your comment, share and follow us on social networks.

See a video of the pronunciation of the colors, for you to train: