Red, Blue, Green: Color Words in 50+ Languages

Red is rojo in Spanish, κόκκινο in Greek, लाल in Hindi and đỏ in Vietnamese. Blue is azul in Spanish, mavi in Turkish and নীল in Bengali, and green is verde in Spanish, سبز in Persian and பச்சை in Tamil. Below are six color words, plus the word “color” itself, across 52 languages besides English and more than a dozen scripts.

Every word comes from real usage data, not a phrasebook, and each section links to the full list on our free Say it in any language tool.

#Where these words come from

Each /tools/say page lists an English word in up to 53 languages. The words are ranked by how often they appear in film and TV subtitles (the OpenSubtitles 2018 frequency lists) and matched to English through Wiktionary, so every page shows where the word ranks in its language.

Three things to know:

• Frequency lists count spellings, not meanings. If a word for “blue” is spelled like an everyday noun, it ranks very high for the wrong reason. We only print rows whose meaning matches, and we say where a page’s “most common” claim is one of these.
• Colors change their endings. In many languages an adjective agrees with its noun, so the data holds whichever form people said most: Serbian crvena (feminine), Dutch rode and Norwegian røde. We print the form in the data.
• The lists are lowercase. We capitalize the German noun Gold; German color adjectives stay lowercase.

Other colors, such as yellow, orange, brown, pink, purple, gray or silver, don’t have a page on the tool yet.

#Red in different languages

Georgian წითელი (#384) is the most common, ahead of Afrikaans rooi (#431) and Telugu ఎరుపు (#454). Hindi लाल and Bengali লাল are one word in two scripts, and Persian and Urdu share سرخ. The Malayalam row, റെഡ് (#552), is simply English “red” written in Malayalam letters.

Portuguese vermelho, Galician vermello and Catalan vermell are related to English “vermilion”; the data glosses the Catalan one “red, vermilion”. Two rows on the full page are false matches: Korean 놀 is glossed “glow, red sky”, and Turkish alın is glossed “blood red” but is also the word for “forehead”. The Bulgarian and Macedonian rows are glossed “in red”: they are the neuter form of the adjective.

See “red” in all 49 languages →

#Blue in different languages

The page’s top row is Macedonian син at #191, but син is also the word for “son”, which explains the rank. Among real matches, Bengali নীল (#573) is the most common, with Malayalam നീല (#612) close behind. Bengali নীল, Hindi नीला, Urdu نیلا, Malayalam നീല and Tamil நீல are one word across five scripts.

Greek μπλε is borrowed from French bleu, and Persian آبی is built on آب, “water”. The data’s glosses add two details: Hebrew כחול is “a darker shade than תְּכֵלֶת”, a separate Hebrew word for light blue, and Tamil நீல is “blue, azure or purple”. Dutch has no real row here: its entry, zomaar, means “just because” and was matched through the English phrase “out of the blue”.

See “blue” in all 44 languages →

#Blue and green: what this data does and doesn’t show

You may have read that some languages use one word for both blue and green. We checked: no language in this data has the same word on the blue page and the green page. That doesn’t prove such languages don’t exist; it means these pages can’t show it, so we won’t name any.

What the data does show is that a color word can cover more than one English color. Tamil நீல is glossed “blue, azure or purple”. The Vietnamese rows don’t help either way: the blue row is lam (#2127), which is rare in subtitles, and the green row is hành, which means “green onion”, so there’s no Vietnamese word for green in the data at all. If you’re curious how a language splits up the colors, that’s a great question to put to a native speaker.

#Green in different languages

Green has the fewest rows of any color here, 39, and neither German nor Russian has one. Tamil பச்சை (#512) is the most common, and Malayalam പച്ച is the same word. Telugu ఆకుపచ్చ is glossed “leaf green”, and it is literally that: ఆకు (leaf) plus పచ్చ (green). Persian and Urdu share سبز, and Bengali সবুজ comes from the same word.

Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Galician and Romanian all say verde, and Basque berde is very close. Korean has two words in this data: 녹색 here and 초록색, which turns up on the colour page.

See “green” in all 39 languages →

#Black in different languages

Black is in 51 languages, more than any other color here. Georgian შავი (#203) and Armenian սև (#269) are the most common real matches. Two rows rank higher but are false matches: Tagalog taong (#178) is glossed “black mourning veil”, but it is spelled like the everyday Tagalog word for “person” plus a linker, and Arabic حالك (#243) is glossed “pitch-black”, but it is spelled like the حالك in كيف حالك, “how are you”.

The Chinese and Korean rows, 黑人 and 흑인, mean “a black person”, not the color. Persian سیاه and Urdu سیاہ are one word, and so are Bengali কালো and Hindi काले (an inflected form). Turkish kara and Tamil கருப்பு are glossed “black, dark”.

See “black” in all 51 languages →

#White in different languages

Tamil வெள்ளை (#246) is the most common, followed by Georgian თეთრი (#308) and Telugu తెలుపు (#401). Indonesian and Malay putih and Tagalog puti are nearly the same word, and Persian and Urdu share سفید. Romanian alb stands apart from its Romance neighbors; it comes from Latin albus.

As on the black page, the Chinese and Korean rows, 白人 and 백인, mean “a white person”, and the English row is “milk”.

See “white” in all 49 languages →

#Gold in different languages

Bengali সোনা (#270) is the most common, and Hindi सोना is the same word, which in Hindi is also spelled like the verb “to sleep”. Slovak zlato (#284), Finnish kulta (#303) and Czech zlato (#313) come next, and there’s a reason they rank so high: in all three languages, “gold” is also something you call a person you love, like “honey” or “darling”.

Spanish and Italian oro, Portuguese ouro, Catalan or and Romanian aur all come from Latin aurum. Several rows mean “of gold” or “golden” rather than the metal: Latvian zelta, Lithuanian aukso, Georgian ოქროს, Albanian artë, Basque urrezko and Telugu బంగారు. French louis, a gold coin and a first name, and Turkish altına, which also means “under”, are false matches.

See “gold” in all 48 languages →

#“Color” in different languages

The word “color” has two pages, because the site also has the British spelling: colour lists 34 languages, color 44, and most of the words are the same. German Farbe, Persian رنگ, Malayalam നിറം and Telugu రంగు are on the colour page. Telugu రంగు (#245) is the most common of all, with Urdu رنگ (#435) next.

One word runs through much of this table: Turkish renk, Persian and Urdu رنگ, Hindi रंग, Bengali রং and Telugu రంగు. Indonesian warna and Bengali বর্ণ (on the colour page) both come from the Sanskrit word varna.

Both pages are full of single colors that Wiktionary glosses as “the color black” or “white color”: Chinese 黑色 and 金色, Korean 흰색 and 초록색, French blanc and noir, Persian سرخ. That shows a real pattern, though: Korean color words end in 색 and Chinese ones in 色, the same “color” syllable, as in Korean 파란색 (blue) and 녹색 (green). Russian цветы is also a false match; it means “flowers”.

See “color” in all 44 languages →

#Mix-ups to watch for

Frequency data is honest about what people say, but it can’t tell a color from a word that looks the same. The ones worth knowing:

• Son, forehead and “how are you”. Macedonian син (blue page), Turkish alın (red page) and Arabic حالك (black page) rank high because of their other meaning.
• A person, not a color. Chinese 黑人 and 白人 and Korean 흑인 and 백인 mean a black or white person, and Tagalog taong is spelled like “person”.
• A vegetable. Vietnamese hành on the green page is a green onion.
• Endearments. Czech and Slovak zlato and Finnish kulta are gold, but also “darling”.
• Forms, not dictionary words. Serbian crvena, Dutch rode, Hindi काले and Latvian zelta are inflected forms.

If you’re reading a new script to check a word like this, the Georgian, Tamil, Bengali and Persian alphabet pages show every letter.

#Learn color words by describing what you see

Color words are easy to practice, because everything around you has one. Clothes, flags, food and the view from your window are all quick language exchange conversation topics.

• Describe a photo. Send a picture and name every color in it, with the right ending for each noun.
• Ask about the in-between colors. Where does your partner’s language put the line between blue and green, or red and orange? A table can’t tell you that.
• Collect the idioms. Many languages have expressions like “out of the blue” or “green with envy” that don’t translate word for word.

On LangX, you’re matched with people who speak the language you’re learning and are learning yours. Send a photo and describe it; if you get a color or an ending wrong, your partner can hold your message to correct it. Corrections are unlimited on every plan, and translation is built into the chat. The free plan gives you five new conversations a day, with replies unlimited. You can get the app here, or read how to find a language exchange partner first.

9:41

Lucía M. Online

Today

Hold any message to correct it — corrections are the most useful thing you can send.

¿Cómo fue tu fin de semana? Cuéntame en inglés si quieres. How was your weekend? Tell me in English if you like. 09:12

Fui a la playa con mi hermana. Hacía mucho calor y yo no llevé agua. 09:14 · Read

Correction from Lucía Hacía mucho calor y yo no llevé agua. Hacía mucho calor y no llevé agua. The «yo» isn't wrong, it just sounds emphatic — like you specifically forgot. 09:15

Message in Spanish…

For cat, dog and horse, see animal words in different languages. For sea, sun and forest, see nature words; for the moon, stars and planets, space words. There are also emotion words, family words, basic words, powerful words, fantasy words and words for strength. To see which words come first in a language, try the most common words lists.

#FAQ

#How do you say “red” in different languages?

Spanish rojo, French rouge, German rot, Russian красный, Greek κόκκινο, Arabic أحمر, Hebrew אדום, Hindi लाल and Vietnamese đỏ. The red page has 49 languages.

#How do you say “blue” in different languages?

Spanish azul, French bleu, German blau, Greek μπλε, Arabic أزرق, Persian آبی, Turkish mavi, Bengali নীল and Korean 파란색. The blue page has 44 languages.

#Do some languages use one word for blue and green?

This data can’t show it: no language here has the same word on both pages. Ask a native speaker how their language divides the colors.

#Which color word is found in the most languages?

Black, in 51 languages. Red and white are in 49 each, and green is in the fewest, 39.

#Is there a difference between “color” and “colour”?

Only the spelling. The site has a page for each, with 44 and 34 languages, and most of the words are the same.