Basic Colors in Japanese

The Japanese word for "color" is 色 iro
Click on the for a sound file of the word or download all the files for this page here

Colors are used grammatically in two ways, as nouns and as adjectives. The actual color names as nouns are listed in the second column. The examples in the third column show how to use the colors as nouns and how to make them into adjectives.

COLORS	COLOR NAMES AS NOUNS	WHEN USED AS AN ADJECTIVE MOST COLOR NAMES ADD A "い"
YELLOW	黄色 ki iro	1) 黄色 はきれい。 kiiro wa kirei desu. Yellow is pretty. (this is a noun) 2) 黄色い とりはきれいです。 kiiroi tori wa kirei desu. The yellow bird is pretty. (this is an adjective)
BLUE	青 ao	1) そらは青いです。 sora wa aoi desu. The sky is blue. 2) あの青いいけはきれいです。 ano aoi ike wa kirei desu. That blue pond is pretty.
RED	赤 aka	1) このはなは赤いです。 kono hana wa akai desu. This flower is red. 2) これは赤いはなです。 kore wa akai hana desu. This is a red flower.
WHITE	白 shiro	1) ゆきはしろい。 yuki wa shiroi. Snow is white. 2) 外国人は白いごはんをあまりたべない。 gaikokujin wa shiroi gohan o amari tabenai. Foreigners don't usually eat plain, white rice (with no butter or salt...).
BLACK	黒 kuro	1) 黒いふくが好きじゃない。 kuroi fuku ga suki ja nai. I don't like black clothes.
GREY	灰色 hai iro the color of ashes	<to make this into an adjective that connects to another word add の no> 1) 灰色のくつしたがほしい。 haiiro no kutsushita ga hoshii. I want grey socks.
PURPLE	紫 murasaki	1) 紫のはなが一番好き。 murasaki no hana ga ichiban suki. I like purple flowers the best.
GREEN	緑 midori	1) 木は緑です。 ki wa midori desu. A tree is green. 2) 牛は緑のくさを食べたい。 ushi wa midori no kusa o tabetai. The cow wants to eat green grass.

OTHER NOTES:

• In Japanese, the word for "Black & White" is "White & Black" - 白黒 shiro kuro
• In Japan, traffic light signals are said to be RED 赤 aka, BLUE 青 ao (not green), and YELLOW 黄 ki
  Once I was driving my Japanese friend around in America. We were stopped at a light and were having a nice conversation when suddenly she yells, "It's BLUE!" I said, "What?" And she repeated, "It's BLUE!" Then I looked up to the signal and said, "Oh! It's GREEN!"
• Sometimes Blues and Greens are interchanged in Japanese
• Many colors are used in people's names
• Most Japanese children draw the sun not yellow but RED 赤 aka
• Polar Bears are White bears in Japanese 白熊 shiro kuma