The Russian language is considered the richest in vocabulary in the world, but English did not stint on the multiple names of colors and their shades, some of them even have several synonyms! For beginners to learn English, it is not at all necessary to know many shades, but for literacy, the basic colors often used in English to describe something and the simple rules of word formation are desirable to know.
Interesting colors
Often when translating some complex shades, we don’t even understand the meaning, but they also exist. These may be the most interesting names, including falu red ['fɑ: lu red], which translates as “the color of the houses in Sweden”, or, for example, the shade of papaya whip [pə'paɪə wip] - “whipped cream with papaya”. Below are the most interesting and memorable shades of the palette, which is not necessary to memorize by heart, but to familiarize yourself with the translation of flowers into English will most likely be quite informative and even a little funny.
A variety of words can denote colors, even those that, when translated, mean the color of an animal. For example: salmon ['sæmən] (salmon) or camel [' kæməl] (camel). An interesting example is the word dark timberwolf [dɑ: rk 'tɪm.bərwʊlf], which translates as dark forest wolf.
The word burnt is assigned to some colors, which literally translates to “burnt”. Thus, there are such shades as burnt orange [bɜ: nt 'ɒrɪnʤ] (burnt orange) or burnt umber [bɜ: nt ʌmbər] - burnt umber.
Often, shades are named after any flowers or other plants. A vivid example would be the words tomato [tə'mɑ: .təʊ] - tomato, jasmine ['dʒæzmɪn] - jasmine, jonquil [' dʒɒŋk.wɪl] - narcissus, asparagus [ə'spærəgəs] - asparagus.
You can endlessly consider these colors, it is very interesting, but today we will only get acquainted with the basic colors of the English language. This article is not intended for people who specialize in a range of shades who need to learn and learn more new ones. This article is for those who have just begun their journey of learning English. Word formation, grammar and spelling will also be examined here.
British and American spelling
Since we are talking about English colors today, it’s worth knowing some differences in spelling between British and American languages.
Let's start with the origins. There is a word color (American - color) ['kʌlə], which both means “color” and it is pronounced the same, but the spelling is different, so choose one language to study and stick to it, otherwise you will fail once confusion between the difference.
Another striking example is the word gray (American - gray) [ɡreɪ] - gray.
When you understand the difference, we can start the list of English flowers. The following are a few examples.
Colors in English. List
The most common colors: red - [red] - red; orange - [ˈɔrɪnʤ] - orange; yellow - [ˈjeləu] - yellow; green - [gri: n] - green; blue - [blu:] - blue (some foreigners mean blue); purple - [ˈpə: pl] - purple (purple); black - [blæk] - black; white - [waɪt] - white.
The most common shades formed from the primary colors: gray - [greɪ] - gray; brown - [braun] - brown; pink - [piŋk] - pink; rose - [rəʊz] - pink. Colors formed from the name of precious stones and ores, metals or substances: amethyst - ['æməθɪst] - amethyst; gold - [gəuld] - gold; silver - [ˈsɪlvə] - silver; copper - [ˈkɔpə] - copper; emerald - [ˈemərəld] - emerald; coral - [ˈkɔrəl] - coral; sapphire - ['sæf.aɪər] - sapphire; malachite - ['mæləˌkaɪt] - malachite.
Colors derived from food: chocolate - [ˈʧɔkələt] - chocolate; raspberry - [ˈrɑ: zbərɪ] - raspberry; wheat - [wi: t] - wheat; lime - [laɪm] - lime; olive - ['ɒl.ɪv] - olive; pear - [peər] - pear. Note: sometimes violet is used instead of purple, which also means purple.
Shades in English
Quite often, the formation of flowers in the English language occurs by adding to the main color any of the following list of adjectives:
- Dark - [da: k] - dark.
- Bright - [braɪt] - bright.
- Light - [laɪt] - light.
- Pale - [peɪl] - pale.
- Deep - [di: p] - saturated.
- Warm - [wɔ: m] - warm.
- Cool - [ku: l] - cool (cold).
Most often, such adjectives are found, but there are also rarer ones.
Let us give an example of several colors formed with the help of these auxiliary words: dark gray - dark gray; pale brown - pale brown; deep purple - dark purple; light green - light green; cool blue - cool blue.
Shades of color can also be formed using a prefix denoting a product (usually fruits and vegetables) of a characteristic color. We proceed immediately to the examples, since here everything is quite simple and clear:
- Raspberry-red - raspberry red.
- Apple-green - apple-green.
- Peach-orange - peach-ornamental.
- Banana-yellow - banana-yellow.
- Olive-green - olive green.
There is still a certain group of words to which the word colored [ˈkʌləd], which means “colored,” is attributed. This word can be attributed to many adjectives, but it is used most often precisely in the sense of some object painted in a given color.
For instance:
The fence was green-colored. - The fence was painted green.
Or:
This house is brown-colored. - This house is brown.
Two-color education
Words can be formed by combining two separate, independent colors, and then in most cases a hyphen is put between them. The following examples of colors in English with translation can be given:
- Blue-green - blue-green.
- Red-violet - red-violet.
- Pink-orange - pink-orange.
- Yellow-blue - yellow-blue.
- Orange-pink - orange pink.
-Ish suffix and degree of comparison
The –ish suffix is put in an incomplete confidence of the color, that is, if one of its shades is implied, when translated into Russian, the suffixes -owat- and -evat- are used. Some illustrative examples:
- Green - greenish - greenish.
- Red - reddish - reddish.
- Yellow - yellowish - yellowish.
- Pink - pinkish - pinkish.
- Orange - orangish - orangeish.
The degree of comparison (comparative and excellent) in flowers is formed in the same way as in ordinary adjectives, that is, if the word has one syllable, then the suffixes -er and -est are added to the word at the end, and if there is more than one syllable, then in more is added to the comparative degree, and the most is added to the superlative. Illustrative examples of translating flowers into English:
- Red - redder - the reddest (red - redder - redder).
- Purple - more purple - the most purple.
- Pink - pinker - the pinkest (pink - more pink - the most pink).
Thus, you can notice that you don’t need much knowledge, and the rules are remembered very easily and quickly, because they do not constitute any difficulty for people of almost any age. Learn English, develop and expand your horizons!