Learn the Colours in Japanese! (With Examples and Explanations)

What better to brighten up your language learning journey than colour! When acquiring a new language, learning basic colours is something that will help your speaking and listening skills come on in leaps and bounds. Our everyday lives are just filled with colour, so it’s definitely worth adding to our vocabulary! 

‘Colour’ in Japanese is iro (色 / いろ). In this post we will go through all of the common colours and how to use them as adjectives to paint a picture.

Common colours in Japanese 

Aka

赤

Red

‘Red’ is aka (赤 / あか) in Japanese.

Unlike in English, colours in Japanese have a noun form and an adjective form.

Aka is the noun, ‘red’, and so if you want to use it as an adjective to describe something as red, we must change it to an i-adjective by simply adding an i (い) on the end: akai (赤い / あかい).

Example:

Noun –

Watashi no ichiban suki na iro wa aka desu
私の一番好きな色は赤です
わたしのいちばんすきないろはあかです
My favourite colour is red

Adjective –

Kanojo wa akai doresu wo kimashita
彼女は赤いドレスを着ました
かのじょはあかいどれすをきました
She wore a red dress

Orenji

オレンジ

Orange

This term is easy to remember as it is borrowed from English! ‘Orange’ in Japanese is simply orenji (オレンジ / おれんじ). It is sometimes referred to as orenjiiro (オレンジ色 / おれんじいろ), literally translating to ‘orange colour’. 

The Japanese word orenji is also the same term used to describe the fruit, so perhaps the iro at the end helps prevent any possible confusion between the two. However, orenji on its own suffices! 

Contrasting to how we made aka into an i-adjective, orenji is different in that we use the no (の) particle when describing something as orange. You can say orenji no (オレンジの) or orenjiiro no (オレンジ色の).

Example:

Kouen de orenji no hana wo mimashita
公園でオレンジの花を見ました
こうえんでおれんじのはなをみました 
I saw orange flowers in the park

Kiiro

黄色

Yellow

The Japanese word for the colour ‘yellow’ is kiiro (黄色 / きいろ). As you can see, iro, the word for ‘colour’ is part of the kanji compound for the term ‘yellow’. 

You can take or leave iro on to the end of most colours, ie. akairo, orenjiiro etc. However, kiiro is always connected to its iro ending. 

Kiiro as an adjective is kiiroi (黄色い / きいろい).

Midori

緑

Green

Midori (緑 / みどり) is the Japanese word for ‘green’! Midori is also quite a popular girl’s name in Japan. 

Like orenji, you can use midori as an adjective by adding no or by adding iro no.

Example:

Midori chan wa midori iro no hon wo motteimasu
緑ちゃんは緑色の本を持っています
みどりちゃんはみどりいろのほんをもっています
Midori has a green book

Ao

青

Blue

‘Blue’ in Japanese is ao, (青 / あお) and  blue as an adjective is aoi (青い / あおい). 

Ao / aoi can be a tricky one as it can also sometimes be used to say ‘green’. Interestingly, (or rather confusingly) ‘green apples’ are called aoringo (青林檎 / あおりんご) – and a when a traffic light turns green it actually turns blue in Japanese…

This stems from ancient Japan when the main colours acknowledged were pretty much limited to red, blue, black and white – and all other colours were simply considered shades of these four. For instance, blue would encompass colours such as green and purple, while red included colours like orange and even yellow. 

Despite the fact that modern Japanese does indeed have a word for green, some green things still employ the use of ao. It’s something worth being aware of, but don’t worry about it too much, you will be understood either way!

Murasaki

紫

Purple

The word for ‘purple’ in Japanese is murasaki (紫 / むらさき). You may also hear the the loan word paapuru (パープル / ぱーぷる) being used from time to time.

Add the no particle to murasaki or paapuru when describing something as purple!

Pinku / momoiro

ピンク / 桃色

Pink

There are two common ways to say ‘pink’ in Japanese. You can use the romanised word pinku (ピンク) or the Japanese word momoiro (桃色 / ももいろ), which directly translates as ‘peach colour’. 

We may think of ‘peachy pink’ as a more orange-y shade of pink, however Japanese peaches are actually rather pink! So in turn, momoiro can be used interchangeably with pinku.

Kuro

黒

Black

Kuro (黒 / くろ) is the Japanese word for ‘black’. As an adjective, something which is black is kuroi (黒いく / ろい).

Shiro

白

White

The Japanese for ‘white’ is shiro (白 / しろ). Shiroi (白い / しろい) is the adjective which describes something white. 

In Japanese culture, ‘white’ also has an image of innocence and purity. Even a traditional Japanese wedding kimono and headdress are white in colour. 

Haiiro

灰色

Grey

‘Grey’ in Japanese is haiiro (灰色 / はいいろ). Hai means ‘ash’ in Japanese, so it literally translates as ‘ash colour’. 

If haiiro slips your mind, you can actually also use the English loanword, guree (グレー / ぐれー). Both haiiro and guree are followed by the no particle when you want to use it as an adjective!

Chairo

茶色

Brown

Lastly on our list, the Japanese word for ‘brown’ is chairo (茶色 / ちゃいろ). Cha (茶 / ちゃ) means ‘tea’ in Japanese. Funnily enough, the first colour that comes to mind when you think of ‘tea’ specifically in Japan is likely green, as opposed to brown. But don’t let that fool you: when it comes to colours, chairo is ‘brown’!

To use brown as an adjective, you can actually employ both of the methods we previously discussed. Chairo no (茶色の) and chairoi (茶色い) are both correct, though the latter is a bit less commonly used.

Traditional colours in Japanese

Congratulations on mastering the basic colours in Japanese!

Want to go deeper? Check out this post on unique and traditional colours of Japan.

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Hannah Stafford

Hannah is a half Irish/half Japanese girl living in Ireland. Her love for Japan and the Japanese language led her to studying languages and translation in university where she specialised in Japanese. She spent a year studying abroad at Rikkyo University in Tokyo. In her free time, Hannah enjoys using her sewing machine to upcycle clothes and create new pieces!