Giant Freaking Japanese Color List
This list’s intention is to give quite a few common-ish colors a home together in one post for learning purposes and spicing up one’s color vocabulary. For color names that don’t match their English equivalents, I’ve given what I feel is the most accurate translation of the name, plus the literal meaning of the Japanese name for the color. I’ve mostly excluded color names like
墨色（すみいろ）inky black (literally ink color)
濡れ羽色（ぬればいろ）jet black (literally wet wing color)
烏羽色（からすばいろ) glossy black (literally crow wing black)
鈍色（にぶいろ）dark, dull grey (literally dull color)
鉛色（なまりいろ）lead color (livid)
鼠色（ねずみいろ) darkish grey, like rat fur (literally rat color)
鋼色（はがねいろ）steel color (steel blue, blueish-gray)
桜色（さくらいろ）pale pink (literally cherry blossom color)
桃色（ももいろ）light pink (literally (Japanese) peach color)
岩礁色（がんしょういろ）coral reef color (darkish pink)
紅梅色（こうばいいろ）red Japanese plum color
鉄色（てついろ）reddish-black (literally iron color)
茜色（あかねいろ）deep reddish-orange (like that of a sunset) (literally madder red)
柿色（かきいろ）reddish-brown (literally persimmon color)
朱色（しゅいろ）vermillion/ cinnabar
緋色（ひいろ）vermillion (often translated as scarlet)
鳥の子色（とりのこいろ）eggshell color (literally bird’s egg color)
玉子色（たまごいろ）light yellowish (literally egg color)
山吹色（やまぶきいろ）bright, golden yellow (literally mountain blow color (wish I knew about this one for my previous color post..))
萌黄色 (もえぎいろ) yellowish-green (literally sprouting yellow color)
柳色（やなぎいろ）pea green (literally willow green)
鶯色(うぐいいろ）similar to olive green, perhaps slightly lighter (literally Japanese nightingale green)
若草色（わかくさいろ）chartreuse, lime grren (literally young grass color)
千歳緑 (ちとせみどり）evergreen (literally 1,000 year green)
仙斎茶 or千歳茶 (せんさいちゃ）dark brownish-green (literally 1,000 year tea)
鴨の羽色（かものはいろ）teal (literally duck wing color)
青緑色 or 青緑（せいりょくしょく or あおみどり) turquoise/ aqua (literally blue-green color)
碧色（へきしょく）greenish-blue (sorta that sea water blue color)
白殺しor 藍白 (しろころし or あいじろ）very light whitish blue (literally white killing or indigo white)
瓶覗色（かめのぞきいろ）lightish blue (literally water jug peek color)
水色（みずいろ）light blue (literally water color)
浅葱色（あさぎいろ）dark cyan (literally pale leek color.. ??)
勝つ色（かついろ）dark, blackish indigo (literally victory color)
藤色（ふじいろ）lavender (literally wisteria color)
葡萄色（えびいろ or ぶどういろ）dark purple, maroon (literally shrimp color or grape color respectively)
茶色（ちゃいろ）tawny brown, lightish brown (literally tea color)
狐色（きつねいろ）light brown, orangish-brown (literally fox color)
鳶色（とびいろ）auburn (literally black kite color (a type of bird))
焦げ茶色（こげちゃいろ）dark brown (literally burnt tea brown)
青銅色（せいどういろ）bronze (that sort of greenish rusted bronze) (literally blue copper/bronze color)
—-these last few are just color-related terms—-
Alright, that about covers everything I wanted to put in this post. I shied away from including colors that are loanwords (like オリーブ色）because they are usually pretty self-explanatory. feel free to correct me if I made any errors, or add other colors you find important which I may have missed. If people make enough additions to add other advanced colors, I may end up making a part 2 for this post. Thanks for reading.
jacobvanloon
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