In Arabic, many words referring to colors are derived from things that are found in nature and that have the color as pertinent to them, e.g brown is derived from coffee beans, pink is derived from flower, golden is derived from gold, and so on. These words are formed by adding a (ي) at the end of the relevant word, for example:
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بنفسجي
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“Lilac”
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Derived from (بنفسج) which means lilac
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بني
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“Brown”
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Derived from (بن) which means coffee beans
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رمادي
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“Grey”
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Derived from (رماد) which means ash
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ذهبي
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“Gold”
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Derived from (ذهب) which means gold
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فضي
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“Silver”
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Derived from (فضة) which means silver
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برتقالي
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“Orange”
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Derived from (برتقال) which means orange
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زهري
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“Pink”
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Derived from (زهرة) which means flower
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زيتوني
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“Olive green”
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Derived from (زيتون) which means olive
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وردي
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“Bright red”
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Derived from (ورد) which means rose
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Other words relate to colors are formed by adjectives following the pattern (أفعل), for example
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أحمر
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“Red”
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أخضر
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“Green”
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أصفر
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“Yellow”
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أزرق
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“Blue”
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أسود
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“Black”
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أبيض
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“White”
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Other colors are transliterations from European languages, for example:
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موف
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“Mauve”
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تركواز
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“Turquoise”
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Comments:
Alexis:
Thanks for this! I was having so much trouble with colors, but this really helped 😀
Aziza:
I am glad you find it useful!
May:
@Aziza What is the significance of a pink rose
usman:
nice, simplified work!
Umm Talha:
MashaAllaah very good and so easy to understand, continue the good work.
Please send me more via email, on nouns verbs etc
As arabic is my third language.
Aziza:
Ahlan Um Talha,
Thank you for the lovely comment. I will keep posting more grammar, and I hope you keep following the Arabic blog. If there are certain points that you need explained, please write them in the comments section, and I will gladly explain them.
Salam,
Aziza
arshi:
thank
its nice
its good
Aziza:
ِAhlan Arshi & thank you for your comment!