Blue in Different Languages
Discover 'Blue' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Blue
Afrikaans blou | ||
Albanian blu | ||
Amharic ሰማያዊ | ||
Arabic أزرق | ||
Armenian կապույտ | ||
Assamese নীলা | ||
Aymara larama | ||
Azerbaijani mavi | ||
Bambara bula | ||
Basque urdina | ||
Belarusian блакітны | ||
Bengali নীল | ||
Bhojpuri बूलू | ||
Bosnian plava | ||
Bulgarian син | ||
Catalan blau | ||
Cebuano asul | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 蓝色 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 藍色 | ||
Corsican turchinu | ||
Croatian plava | ||
Czech modrý | ||
Danish blå | ||
Dhivehi ނޫ | ||
Dogri नीला | ||
Dutch blauw | ||
English blue | ||
Esperanto blua | ||
Estonian sinine | ||
Ewe bluᴐ | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) asul | ||
Finnish sininen | ||
French bleu | ||
Frisian blau | ||
Galician azul | ||
Georgian ლურჯი | ||
German blau | ||
Greek μπλε | ||
Guarani hovy | ||
Gujarati વાદળી | ||
Haitian Creole ble | ||
Hausa shuɗi | ||
Hawaiian polū | ||
Hebrew כָּחוֹל | ||
Hindi नीला | ||
Hmong xiav | ||
Hungarian kék | ||
Icelandic blátt | ||
Igbo acha anụnụ anụnụ | ||
Ilocano asul | ||
Indonesian biru | ||
Irish gorm | ||
Italian blu | ||
Japanese 青い | ||
Javanese biru | ||
Kannada ನೀಲಿ | ||
Kazakh көк | ||
Khmer ខៀវ | ||
Kinyarwanda ubururu | ||
Konkani निळें | ||
Korean 푸른 | ||
Krio blu | ||
Kurdish şîn | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) شین | ||
Kyrgyz көк | ||
Lao ສີຟ້າ | ||
Latin caeruleum | ||
Latvian zils | ||
Lingala bleu | ||
Lithuanian mėlyna | ||
Luganda bbululu | ||
Luxembourgish blo | ||
Macedonian сина | ||
Maithili नील | ||
Malagasy manga | ||
Malay biru | ||
Malayalam നീല | ||
Maltese blu | ||
Maori kikorangi | ||
Marathi निळा | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯍꯤꯒꯣꯛ | ||
Mizo pawl | ||
Mongolian цэнхэр | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) အပြာ | ||
Nepali निलो | ||
Norwegian blå | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) buluu | ||
Odia (Oriya) ନୀଳ | ||
Oromo cuquliisa | ||
Pashto آبي | ||
Persian آبی | ||
Polish niebieski | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) azul | ||
Punjabi ਨੀਲਾ | ||
Quechua anqas | ||
Romanian albastru | ||
Russian синий | ||
Samoan lanu moaga | ||
Sanskrit नील | ||
Scots Gaelic gorm | ||
Sepedi talalerata | ||
Serbian плави | ||
Sesotho putsoa | ||
Shona bhuruu | ||
Sindhi نيرو | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) නිල් | ||
Slovak modrá | ||
Slovenian modra | ||
Somali buluug | ||
Spanish azul | ||
Sundanese biru | ||
Swahili bluu | ||
Swedish blå | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) bughaw | ||
Tajik кабуд | ||
Tamil நீலம் | ||
Tatar зәңгәр | ||
Telugu నీలం | ||
Thai สีน้ำเงิน | ||
Tigrinya ሰማያዊ | ||
Tsonga wasi | ||
Turkish mavi | ||
Turkmen gök | ||
Twi (Akan) bunu | ||
Ukrainian блакитний | ||
Urdu نیلے | ||
Uyghur كۆك | ||
Uzbek ko'k | ||
Vietnamese màu xanh da trời | ||
Welsh glas | ||
Xhosa luhlaza | ||
Yiddish בלוי | ||
Yoruba bulu | ||
Zulu okuluhlaza okwesibhakabhaka |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The word 'blou' is derived from the Dutch word 'blauw', which means 'blue' or 'black'. |
| Albanian | Blu can also be used to express sadness in the context of a song, e.g., "I am blu". |
| Amharic | The word ሰማያዊ ('blue') is derived from the word ሰማይ ('sky') and originally meant 'sky-colored'. |
| Arabic | أزرق also signifies "green" in ancient Arabic literature. |
| Armenian | "Կապույտ" is the only word for "blue" in Armenian, and can also refer to various shades of blue or violet, including azure, indigo, and navy. |
| Azerbaijani | In Azerbaijani, "mavi" not only means "blue" but also refers to a type of turquoise-colored stone. |
| Basque | The Basque word "urdina" is related to the word "ur" meaning "water" and may have originally referred to the color of the sky or the sea. |
| Belarusian | The word "блакітны" is also the name of a flower, the cornflower, and the mineral azurite. |
| Bengali | "নীল" is also an alternative name for the indigo plant. |
| Bosnian | The word 'plava' can also refer to a type of fish known as the 'European chub'. |
| Bulgarian | The word "син" also means "son" in Bulgarian, a cognate of the English word "son". |
| Catalan | The Catalan word "blau" (''blue'') derives from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning ''to shine''. |
| Chinese (Simplified) | "蓝色" (blue) originally meant "dark green" and was used to describe malachite, a type of green mineral. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | The Chinese character "藍" originally referred to the indigo plant and its dye, and later extended to mean the color blue. |
| Corsican | The word 'turchinu' in Corsican, meaning 'blue', is related to the names of the 'Turks' and 'Turquoise', as it was originally associated with the color of oriental fabrics. |
| Croatian | The Croatian word 'plava' is derived from the Proto-Slavic word 'plъvъ', which originally meant 'pale' or 'ash-grey'. |
| Czech | Modrý can also refer to bruises or dark circles under the eyes. |
| Danish | The word "blå" derives from the Proto-Germanic term "blawaz" and is related to the English word "blue". |
| Dutch | The word "blauw" can also refer to a bruise and is used in the saying "zwart als een blauwe plek" (black as a bruise) to indicate deep sorrow. |
| Esperanto | Esperanto has also a form "blua" (from "bleu" in French), with an alternative meaning: inexperienced, naïve. |
| Estonian | The word "sinine" originates from the Proto-Uralic word *sińe, meaning "dark". It is cognates with the Finnish word "sininen" and the Hungarian word "sötét". |
| Finnish | The word 'sininen' also means 'distant' or 'remote' in Finnish. |
| French | "Bleu" comes from the Frankish word "blao," meaning "livid" or "dark." |
| Frisian | The Frisian word "blau" is also used to describe something that has a greenish hue. |
| Galician | The word "azul" is cognate with the Portuguese word "azul" and the Spanish word "azul" meaning "blue". |
| Georgian | In Svan language, one of the Kartvelian languages spoken in Georgia, the word 'lurji' translates to 'green'. |
| German | The word "Blau" derives from the Germanic word "blawaz," meaning "bright" or "shining." |
| Greek | The word μπλε derives from the Old French "ble" and ultimately originated in the Frankish word "blao", which also means "bluish" in modern Dutch. |
| Gujarati | The Gujarati word "વાદળી" originally meant "cloudy" or "foggy" and only later came to mean "blue". |
| Haitian Creole | In Haitian Creole, 'ble' is also used as a synonym for the French word 'bleu' which means 'white' or 'light blue'. |
| Hausa | "Shuɗi" also means "green" and is derived from the word "shaɗa," which means "to be green or blue." |
| Hawaiian | The word "polū" in Hawaiian can refer to a deep or dark blue, and has also been historically applied to black as well. |
| Hebrew | כָּחוֹל is a cognate to the word for “dark” (כָּחַל) in other Semitic languages. |
| Hindi | In Sanskrit, 'नीला' refers to the sapphire colour of the rain cloud, while 'नील' is indigo. |
| Hmong | The word "xiav" can also refer to the color green in some dialects of Hmong. |
| Hungarian | The Hungarian word "kék" also means "pale," "bluish," "livid," "dull," "hazy," or "gray-blue." |
| Icelandic | The word 'blátt' (blue) is derived from the Proto-Germanic word 'blewaz' meaning 'shining' and is related to the English words 'bleach', 'blazing' and 'blister'. |
| Igbo | In Igbo, the word 'acha anụnụ anụnụ' is sometimes considered a reduplicative expression that emphasizes the intensity of the color blue. |
| Indonesian | Biru is possibly loaned from the Portuguese word "azul" or the French word "bleu" |
| Irish | The Irish word "gorm" originates from the Proto-Celtic root *gwermos, meaning "dark". |
| Italian | Blu is an Italian word that can mean the shades of light, indigo and turquoise |
| Japanese | The word "青い" in Japanese can also mean "immature" or "new to the job." |
| Javanese | The word "Biru" in Indonesian and Javanese comes from the Portuguese word "Azul", meaning "sky" or a "light shade of blue". |
| Kannada | The word "ನೀಲಿ" also refers to the color indigo in Kannada. |
| Kazakh | The Kazakh word "көк" also means "sky" and "heaven". |
| Khmer | "ខៀវ" can also mean 'green', particularly in reference to vegetation or unripe fruit. |
| Korean | "푸른" (blue) can also refer to a pale color reminiscent of unripe fruits. |
| Kurdish | In Kurdish mythology, "şîn" also refers to a mythical creature depicted as a blue dragon. |
| Kyrgyz | Besides its most common meaning, the word "Көк" also refers to the sky, water, and the blue or green color of the grass in spring. |
| Latin | The word 'caeruleum' is derived from the Greek word 'κυάνεος' (kuaneos), which means 'dark blue' or 'navy blue'. |
| Latvian | Zils is also used in Latvian to describe something that is dull or gloomy. |
| Lithuanian | In Lithuanian, the word "mėlyna" can also refer to the dark green color of leaves or unripe fruit. |
| Luxembourgish | In Luxembourgish, 'blo' can also refer to the blueberry or someone with very fair hair. |
| Macedonian | Besides its primary meaning as "blue", "сина" can also mean "bruise" or "hematoma" in Macedonian. |
| Malagasy | "Manga" also denotes the southeasternmost tip of Madagascar (Cape Sainte Marie) and a large freshwater lake in the south (Lake Manga).} |
| Malay | The Malay word "biru" is cognate with the Javanese "biru" and derives from Proto-Austronesian *biRuq |
| Malayalam | The word "നീല" (nīla) in Malayalam can also refer to the color indigo, as well as to the blue lotus flower. |
| Maltese | The word "blu" in Maltese is a false cognate of English "blue" and actually refers to the colour "green". |
| Maori | The word "kikorangi" in Māori may also refer to the dark blue of the ocean or the deep blue of the sky. |
| Marathi | The Marathi word "निळा" (blue) is derived from the Sanskrit word "नील" (blue), which in turn is derived from the Proto-Indo-Iranian word "*nīla" (blue). |
| Mongolian | "Цэнхэр" is also used to describe sadness or melancholy in Mongolian culture. |
| Myanmar (Burmese) | The word "အပြာ" has an alternate meaning of "green", especially in certain contexts or for certain shades of green. |
| Nepali | As a given name, Nilo is an Indian name meaning "the moon" or "shining sapphire". |
| Norwegian | Blå derives from the Old Norse word 'blár', meaning 'dark or dim'. |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | In some Central Malawian dialects, "buluu" refers to a deep shade of indigo, rather than the light blue "bulautu" |
| Pashto | The Pashto word for "blue," "آبي" also means "cool" or "cold," like the water of a high mountain lake. |
| Persian | "آبی" (blue) may have originated from the Sanskrit word "आप" (water), or from the Old Persian word "اب" (water). It can also refer to greenery or freshness. |
| Polish | The Polish word "niebieski" also refers to the color of sadness or melancholy. |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The Portuguese word "azul" derives from the Arabic "lāzaward," which originally referred to the mineral lapis lazuli. |
| Punjabi | "ਨੀਲਾ", derived from Sanskrit "नील" (nīla), is not just a color but also represents devotion, tranquility, and infinity in Sikhism and Indian culture." |
| Romanian | "Albastru" comes from the Albanian word "blë" or "alb", meaning "white," from Proto-Albanian *alb-, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂elbʰ-,"white." |
| Russian | "Синий" is similar in origin to English "azure", and its root means 'clear' or 'shining' |
| Samoan | The Samoan word "lanu moaga" translates as "blue," but also refers to the sea, which is perceived as having a bluish hue. |
| Scots Gaelic | The word "gorm" in Scots Gaelic has been suggested to be cognate with Greek "κύανος" (kuanos) via Proto-Indo-European, originally meaning "dark blue dye" or "azure". |
| Serbian | In Serbian, "Плави" (plavi) can also refer to a pale horse or a person with blond hair. |
| Sesotho | Putsoa, which comes from the verb 'ho phetsa' meaning 'to smear,' also refers to a type of traditional beer. |
| Shona | The word "bhuruu" in Shona can also mean "deep" or "dark" in certain contexts. |
| Sindhi | Originally, the Sindhi word 'نيرو' was also used as a name for a blue dye. |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The word "නිල්" can also mean "dark" or "black" in Sinhala. |
| Slovak | Modrá, meaning "blue" in Slovak, originates from the Proto-Slavic word "modrъ", which also meant "dark, black". |
| Slovenian | The Slovenian word "modra" is thought to be derived from an Indo-European word meaning "to be dark or gloomy." |
| Somali | The word 'buluug' also means 'sky' or 'heavens' in Somali, highlighting the cultural significance of the color blue in Somali culture. |
| Spanish | "Azul" is derived from Arabic "lazaward," meaning "lapis lazuli," also the source for "azure". It also carries a sense of sadness in the phrase "estar de azul." |
| Sundanese | "Biru" can also mean "green" or "red" depending on the region. |
| Swahili | The Swahili word "bluu" originates from the Proto-Bantu word "*bulewa*, meaning "green" or "yellow". |
| Swedish | "Blå" can also refer to something bruised, such as "a black eye" |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The Tagalog word "bughaw" is also used to describe the color of a bruise, which is a purplish hue. |
| Tajik | The word 'кабуд' likely derives from Old Persian 'kabuta' meaning 'pigeon' due to their blue-grey plumage |
| Tamil | In ancient Tamil literature, the word 'நீலம்' was originally used to describe indigo and later extended to mean 'blue' in general. |
| Telugu | The word 'నీలం' also refers to a legendary precious stone associated with Lord Krishna. |
| Thai | The word "สีน้ำเงิน" derives from the Sanskrit word "नील" (nīla), meaning "dark blue". |
| Turkish | Mavi is also used in Turkish to refer to the sky, the sea, and the color of the eye, and is derived from the Persian word 'mavi' meaning 'blue, turquoise'. |
| Ukrainian | The word «блакитний» is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *bhel-, meaning «to shine» or «to be white». |
| Urdu | The word "نیلے" can also refer to a type of indigo dye or a shade of purple |
| Uzbek | The Uzbek word "ko'k" comes from the Persian word "kabūd," which also means "dark blue" or "black." |
| Vietnamese | The word "màu xanh da trời" literally translates to "color of the sky" and is used to describe light shades of blue. |
| Welsh | The Welsh word "glas" also means "green" and is related to the Proto-Celtic word "glastos", meaning "greenish-blue". |
| Xhosa | The Xhosa word "luhlaza" can also refer to a shade of green and is derived from the Nguni language. |
| Yiddish | In Yiddish, the word “בלוי” can also refer to wear and tear or an activity conducted for enjoyment. |
| Yoruba | The Yorùbá word "búlú" can also refer to a person who is physically strong or brave. |
| Zulu | The Zulu word "okuluhlaza okwesibhakabhaka" can also refer to "the colour of the sky" or "green" depending on the context. |
| English | The word 'blue' derives from an Old High German word meaning 'shiny'. |