Colors in Japanese
Japanese colours split into two groups that behave differently in a sentence. There is also one that covers both blue and green, which is why a Japanese traffic light turns blue.
The basic colors
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赤 あか aka
AH-kah
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red
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オレンジ orenji
oh-REN-jee
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orange
Borrowed, so it is written in katakana
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黄色 きいろ kiiro
KEE-roh
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yellow
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緑 みどり midori
mee-DOH-ree
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green
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青 あお ao
AH-oh
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blue
Historically covers green too. See the note below
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紫 むらさき murasaki
moo-rah-SAH-kee
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purple
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ピンク pinku
PEEN-koo
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pink
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茶色 ちゃいろ chairo
CHAH-ee-roh
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brown
Literally tea colour
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黒 くろ kuro
KOO-roh
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black
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白 しろ shiro
SHEE-roh
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white
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灰色 はいいろ haiiro
HYE-ee-roh
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grey
Literally ash colour
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水色 みずいろ mizuiro
mee-zoo-EE-roh
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light blue
Literally water colour
Why the traffic light is blue
Old Japanese had one word, ao, covering the whole blue-green range. Midori arrived later as a separate colour but never fully took over.
The leftovers are everywhere. A green traffic light is 青信号, ao-shingō, a blue signal. Unripe fruit is 青りんご, a blue apple. A young inexperienced person is 青い, blue.
So when a Japanese speaker calls something ao, check whether they mean the colour of the sky or the colour of a leaf.
Two kinds of colour word
Six colours have a true adjective form ending in -i: akai, aoi, kuroi, shiroi, kiiroi and chairoi. These go straight in front of a noun: 赤い車, akai kuruma, a red car.
Everything else is a noun and needs の, no, to attach it: 緑の車, midori no kuruma, a green car. The same goes for murasaki, pinku, orenji and haiiro.
Getting this backwards is the standard beginner mistake. Midoriい is not a word, and akai no kuruma is not either.
- 赤い車a red car, using the -i form
- 緑の車a green car, using no
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