Colors in Japanese — Vocabulary and a Grammar Quirk

Colours are easy vocabulary — with one fun grammar quirk worth knowing.

Basic colors

• 赤 (aka) — red · 青 (ao) — blue · 黄色 (kiiro) — yellow
• 緑 (midori) — green · 黒 (kuro) — black · 白 (shiro) — white
• 茶色 (chairo) — brown · 紫 (murasaki) — purple · ピンク (pinku) — pink

The adjective quirk

A few colours are true い-adjectives: 赤い (red), 青い (blue), 黄色い (yellow), 黒い (black), 白い (white). Others (green, brown, purple) are nouns and need な or の to describe things: 緑の車 (a green car).

Examples

赤いりんご (a red apple — adjective) vs 紫の花 (a purple flower — noun + の).

Learn which colours are adjectives and which are nouns, and you''ll describe anything accurately.