When learning Japanese, you’ll want to be able to describe different things. One way to describe an object is by its color. So, let’s learn some Japanese words for colors!
青
あお / Ao
Blue
赤
あか / Aka
Red
緑
みどり / Midori
Green
黄色
きいろ / Ao
Yellow
白
しろ / Ao
White
紫
むらさき / Murasaki
Purple
緑
みどり / Midori
Pink
赤
あか / Aka
Orange
黄色
きいろ / Ao
Brown
黒
くろ / Ao
Black
Fun Fact About Colors in Japanese
Did you know that originally the Japanese language only had four different words to describe colors?
Yep, originally Japanese only contained 黒 (black), 白 (white), 赤 (red), and 青 (blue).
- 黒 (black) and 白 (white) were used to describe things that were dark or light
- 赤 (red) was used for all sorts of shades from dark red, to orange, to yellow
- 青 (blue) was used for everything from navy to purple to green.
Even today you might still see some scenarios where 青 (blue) is used to describe something that is more green in color. For example:
- The lights on traffic lights in Japan are referred to as 赤信号 (red light), 黄信号 (yellow light), and 青信号 (blue light).
- Green apples are referred to as 青りんご.