Japanese Colors - Basic Color Vocabulary

20 flashcards · Beginner · Language Learning

The most useful Japanese color words — red, blue, yellow, green, and more, plus gold, silver, and light-and-dark shade words — each with natural Japanese, romaji pronunciation, an example sentence, and native-speaker audio.

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赤

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Basic Colors

Red. Noun form; the -i adjective is 赤い (akai).

赤

Pronunciation

aka

What you'll learn

The core Japanese color words written in kanji, hiragana, and katakana
Noun vs -i adjective forms (for example 赤 aka and 赤い akai)
Loanword colors like ピンク (pink) and オレンジ (orange)
Gold, silver, light blue, and lime green vocabulary
Shade and brightness words: 明るい, 暗い, 濃い, 薄い
Correct pronunciation from native-speaker audio on every card

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Basic Colors · 11

赤/ aka /: Red. Noun form; the -i adjective is 赤い (akai).
青/ ao /: Blue. Noun form; the -i adjective is 青い (aoi).
黄色/ kiiro /: Yellow. Noun form; the -i adjective is 黄色い (kiiroi).
緑/ midori /: Green. Used as a noun; no common -i adjective (often 緑色, midoriiro).
黒/ kuro /: Black. Noun form; the -i adjective is 黒い (kuroi).
白/ shiro /: White. Noun form; the -i adjective is 白い (shiroi).
茶色/ chairo /: Brown. Noun form; the -i adjective is 茶色い (chairoi).
紫/ murasaki /: Purple. Used as a noun; no common -i adjective form.
ピンク/ pinku /: Pink. Katakana loanword; used as a noun.
オレンジ/ orenji /: Orange. Katakana loanword; used as a noun (often オレンジ色).
灰色/ haiiro /: Gray. Used as a noun; グレー (gurē) is also common.

More Colors & Shades · 9

金色/ kin'iro /: Gold (color). Used as a noun.
銀色/ gin'iro /: Silver (color). Used as a noun.
水色/ mizuiro /: Light blue / aqua. Used as a noun.
黄緑/ kimidori /: Yellow-green / lime green. Used as a noun.
明るい/ akarui /: Bright / light. An -i adjective describing a light or vivid color.
暗い/ kurai /: Dark. An -i adjective describing a dark or dim color.
濃い/ koi /: Deep / dark (of a color). An -i adjective for a strong, saturated shade.
薄い/ usui /: Pale / light (of a color). An -i adjective for a faint, washed-out shade.
色/ iro /: Color. The general word for color.