How to say “colour” in 34 different languages
Every one of these is a word that turns up in ordinary speech, not a dictionary curiosity — the number beside it is where it ranks in that language.
- χρώμα/ˈxɾoma/ Greek
- நிறம்/nɪrɐm/ Tamil
- നിറം/n̪irɐm/ Malayalam
- రంగు/ˈranɡu/ Telugu
- رنگ[ɹæŋɡʲ̥] Persian
“colour” in German: farbe · Portuguese: cor · Greek: χρώμα
It is commonest in Telugu, where రంగు is the 245th most used word.
Colour in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans kleur/klɪør/ color; colour #984
- Basque kolore/koˈloˌɾe/ color/colour #696
- Bengali বর্ণ/bɔɾno/ color, colour #2,249
- Bulgarian цвят[t͡svʲa̟t] colour, color #1,495
- Catalan color[kuˈlo] color, colour #1,072
- Chinese 金色/t͡ɕin⁵⁵ sɤ⁵¹/ gold colour #2,188
- Danish farve/ˈfɑːvə/ color, colour #1,865
- Dutch kleur/kløːr/ a color, colour #1,659
- English red/ɹɛd/ The colour of the setting sun, blood, and… #585
- Esperanto koloroj/koˈloroɪ/ #1,817
- Estonian värv/ˈværv/ color/colour #1,710
- French noir/nwaʁ/ black in colour #729
- German farbe/ˈfarbə/ #1,780
- Greek χρώμα/ˈxɾoma/ colour, color #1,358
- Hebrew צבע/ˈt͡seva(ʕ)/ color, colour #1,057
- Icelandic lit/lɪːt/ #1,533
- Indonesian warna/ˈwarna/ colour/color #946
- Italian colore/koˈlo.re/ color/colour #1,528
- Korean 초록색[t͡ɕʰo̞ɾo̞ks͈ɛk̚] green colour #2,082
- Lithuanian spalva[spɐlˈvɐ] colour, color #1,162
- Malay putih/ˈputih/ Being white in colour #567
- Malayalam നിറം/n̪irɐm/ #590
- Norwegian farge/ˈfɑrɡə/ color / colour #2,285
- Persian رنگ[ɹæŋɡʲ̥] #617
- Portuguese cor/ˈkoʁ/ colour, color #1,421
- Romanian color/koˈloɾ/ color / colour #2,493
- Slovak farba/farba/ color, colour #1,244
- Slovenian barva/báːrʋa/ #765
- Spanish color/koˈloɾ/ color / colour, hue #1,181
- Swedish färg/fɛrj/ colour; the spectral composition of visible… #1,918
- Tamil நிறம்/nɪrɐm/ colour, complexion #1,452
- Telugu రంగు/ˈranɡu/ colour, hue, tint #245
- Urdu رنگ/ɾəŋɡ/ #435
- Vietnamese màu[maw˨˩] colour, color #651
The speaker reads the word in the voice the LangX app uses for that language — synthesised, not a recording of a native speaker, so treat it as a guide. A row without a button has no reading we are free to use, or none we trust, yet. Voices for Bengali (google (bn_BD), CC BY-SA 4.0), Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 4.0), Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0), Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0) and Vietnamese (vais1000 (vi_VN), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.