Learn Arabic Words and Phrases (Colors)

Asmaa Akl

12 Nov 2019

In the second article for our series “Learn Arabic words and phrases”, we want to touch on the subject of colors. It is important to learn how to write, read and pronounce the names of colors in the Arabic language since it will immensely help in providing a description for an object and help in its identification.

Colors

Colors are usually separated into three categories, warm, cool and neutral colors.

Warm toned colors

• The color red is pronounced as Ahmar and written as أحمر. It is the color of apples, roses and tomatoes.
• The color orange is pronounced as Bortokali and written as برتقالي it is named after the orange fruit برتقال (Bortokal) because they both have the same color.
• The color Yellow is pronounced as Asfar and written as أصفر. It is the color of the sun, bananas and baby chicks.

Cold toned colors

• The color blue is pronounced as Azraq and written as أزرق. It is the color of the sky, the oceans and the seas.
• The color green is pronounced as Akhdar and written as أخضر. It is the color of nature, leaves and trees.
• Another color would be purple, pronounced as Banafsaj and written as بنفسج which is the color of lavender.

Neutral colors

• The color black is pronounced as Aswad and written as أسود. It is the color of coal, gunpowder and some animals like the whale.
• The color white is pronounced as Abyad and written as أبيض. Some people say it is the base of all colors. It is the color of doves, clouds, milk as well as salt and sugar.
• The color grey, pronounced as Ramadi and written as رمادي is the color of ash and concrete.
• Last but not least, Brown is pronounced as Bunnei and written as بني. It is the color of wood.

Feminine Form

Since the Arabic language is a gendered language, there is a masculine form and a feminine form for each of the above-mentioned colors based on the object they are describing. For example, we say حذاء أزرق (Hithaa Azraq) meaning blue shoe, since the word حذاء is considered masculine, while we say سماء زرقاء (Samaa Zarqaa) meaning blue sky, since the word سماء is considered feminine. Here is a list of the feminine form of the colors mentioned above:

Red	حمراء	Hamraa
Orange	برتقالية	Bortokalia
Yellow	صفراء	Safraa
Blue	زرقاء	Zarkaa
Green	خضراء	Khadraa
Purple	بنفسجية	Banafsajeya
Black	سوداء	Sawdaa
White	بيضاء	Baydaa
Grey	رمادية	Ramadeya
Brown	بنية	Bunneia

 

If you wish to learn more Arabic words and phrases check our previous article in the series. Trying to self-learn the Arabic language is not impossible, but we at Nour Academy aspire to help you even further by providing an especially developed curriculum for online Arabic learners. Our Arabic classes are led by professional and native instructors to help you learn Arabic correctly. Take a look at our Arabic classes online and stay tuned for our next subject in the series.