Colors in Arabic, with both forms

The main colours in Arabic are aḥmar (red), azraq (blue), akhḍar (green), aṣfar (yellow), abyaḍ (white) and aswad (black). The word for colour is lawn, and colours is alwān. Like most Arabic adjectives, a colour comes after the word it describes and matches it: kitāb aḥmar, a red book, but wardah ḥamrāʾ, a red rose.

Two kinds of colour words

The six basic colours, plus a few others, follow one pattern: afʿal for the masculine and faʿlāʾ for the feminine. So aḥmar becomes ḥamrāʾ, azraq becomes zarqāʾ and abyaḍ becomes bayḍāʾ.

Most other colours are made from the name of a thing, with -ī on the end, like "-ish" in English. Burtuqāl is an orange, so burtuqālī is orange-coloured. Banafsaj is a violet, ward is roses, bunn is coffee beans, ramād is ash, dhahab is gold and fiḍḍa is silver. The feminine adds -a: burtuqāliyya.

Light and dark

Colours in the Quran

The Quran points to the variety of colours as a sign of Allah's creation:

Colours as a signIn the Quran

أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ أَنزَلَ مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ مَآءًۭ فَأَخْرَجْنَا بِهِۦ ثَمَرَٰتٍۢ مُّخْتَلِفًا أَلْوَٰنُهَا ۚ وَمِنَ ٱلْجِبَالِ جُدَدٌۢ بِيضٌۭ وَحُمْرٌۭ مُّخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَٰنُهَا وَغَرَابِيبُ سُودٌۭ

Alam tara annal laaha anzala minas samaaa'i maaa'an fa akhrajnaa bihee samaraatim mukhtalifan alwaanuhaa; wa minal jibaali judadum beedunw wa humrum mukhtalifun alwaanuhaa wa gharaabeebu sood

Do you not see that Allah sends down rain from the sky, and We produce thereby fruits of varying colors? And in the mountains are tracts, white and red of varying shades and [some] extremely black.

Quran 35:27, translation by Sahih International

When the Children of Israel asked about the cow they were told to sacrifice, the answer named its colour, ṣafrāʾ, the feminine of yellow (2:69). The people of Paradise wear green garments (18:31), and the dawn of a fast begins when the white thread of day is distinct from the black thread of night (2:187).

Yellow in the QuranIn the Quran

قَالُوا۟ ٱدْعُ لَنَا رَبَّكَ يُبَيِّن لَّنَا مَا لَوْنُهَا ۚ قَالَ إِنَّهُۥ يَقُولُ إِنَّهَا بَقَرَةٌۭ صَفْرَآءُ فَاقِعٌۭ لَّوْنُهَا تَسُرُّ ٱلنَّٰظِرِينَ

Qaalud-'u lanaa rabaaka yubaiyil lanaa maa lawnuhaa; qaala innahoo yaqoolu innahaa baqaratun safraaa'u faqi'ul lawnuhaa tasurrunnaazireen

They said, "Call upon your Lord to show us what is her color." He said, "He says, 'It is a yellow cow, bright in color - pleasing to the observers.' "

Quran 2:69, translation by Sahih International

More everyday words: days of the week, family words and Arabic numbers.