Words for colours in Vietnamese with notes on their meanings, and cultural associations.
The word for colour, màu, can be added before the other colour words to make it clear that you are talking about colours. If that is clear from the context, there's no need to use it, except in the case of gold (vàng) and yellow (màu vàng).
đỏ (𣠶) - red
màu vàng - yellow (colour)
vàng (黄) - gold (colour / metal);
xanh (青) - blue/green;
xanh da trời - (sky) blue;
xanh lá cây - (tree) green
nâu – - brown; race.
hồng (紅) - pink
màu cam - orange (colour);
cam - orange (fruit)
xám - grey, blurry, unclear
tím - purple
xám bạc - silver (colour);
bạc - silver (metal - from silver 鉑)
chàm (藍) - indigo (from the plant indigo)
An introduction to Vietnamese colours by Greg Vanderford
More information about colours in Vietnamese
http://baohouse.net/post/16435862965/color-connotations-in-the-vietnamese-culture
http://www.digitaldialects.com/Vietnamese/Colour.htm
Learn to Speak Vietnamese Like a Native, an online course by Greg Vanderford
https://www.udemy.com/learn-to-speak-vietnamese-like-a-native/
Information about Vietnamese | Chữ-nôm script | Phrases | Colours | Numbers | Time | Family words | Tower of Babel | Learning materials
Colour words in other languages
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