Color…ish! Posted by Adir on Sep 22, 2008 in Spanish Vocabulary
Spanish has a particular way of saying the …ish suffix when referring to colors, like whiteish, greenish, blueish, greyish, etc. The adjectives are derived in several different ways. Check it out!
Blanco (white) – blanquecino/blancuzco
Rojo (red) – rojizo
Azul (blue) – azuláceo/azulino
Amarillo (yellow) – amarillento
Negro (black) – negruzco
Verde (green) – verdusco/verdoso
Gris (grey) – grisáceo
Rosa (pink) – rosáceo
Púrpura (purple) – purpúreo
Marrón (brown) – marronáceo
Naranja (orange) – anaranjado
Violeta (violet) – violáceo
Pardo (dark brown) – parduzco
Nos vemos prontito!
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About the Author: Adir
English / Spanish teacher and translator for over 20 years. I have been blogging since 2007 and I am also a professional singer in my spare time.
Comments:
Bob Mills:
The “ish: comments are very interesting.
In there a common spanish add-on for other “ishes” like warm-ish / cool-ish / small-ish etc.
david carmona:
There are hundreds of different suffixes in Spanish, and people can even invent new ones for this purpose. Sometimes diminutives are used to that effect. Other times, you can qualify the adjective by adding “medio…” or “como…” in front, if you want to play it safe. In some cases, it’s not even possible. The truth is no rule is going to help you in this department, since each individual adjective has its own acceptable qualifier/s for approximation. It’s something you will acquire after getting lots of exposure to authentic content.