7.3. What colour is ao?

TO DO #45: priority: low: Add some kind of picture to "what colour is ao?" answer. Maybe traffic lights against a blue sky?

According to Shougakukan's Gendai Kokugo Reikai Jiten, ao is the Japanese name for "cyan", one of the three colours used in printing inks, and it also notes that the name ao is used for both green and for sky and sea blues.

The Koujien dictionary says that ao is the name of sky and sea blues and green. It also explains under the ao section that according to one historical explanation that in ancient Japan the only colours were aka, shiro, kuro and ao.

This dictionary also notes that historically aoi meant a medatanu iro and was used even for grey. It now covers colours as far apart as ai, midori and sou, the colour of grass.

Web links on colours in Japanese

This web site: contains a very large list of Japanese colours with their names.

Questions? Corrections? Comments? Contact: benkasminbullock@gmail.com