The Colors in Italian

Or how to talk about her bright red lips + his skintight white t-shirt

Like pithy sayings and puns, colors add a bit of pop to language.

I mean, how can you tell a proper story in Italian about that beautiful human being you spent all night with without describing what they were wearing, how they looked, and the color of the wine you drank?

Here are the colors in Italian

• Red - rosso

• Pink - rosa

• Orange - arancione

• Yellow - giallo

• Green - verde

• Blue - azzurro

CPF: The Italian translation for “Prince Charming” is “Il Principe Azzurro.”

• Purple - viola, porpora {has more red in it}

• Silver - argento

• Gray - grigio

• Gold - oro

• Black - nero

• Brown - marrone

• White - bianco

If you want to talk about dark shades, you can just add the word ‘scuro’ at the end of each color.

• Dark red - rosso scuro

• Dark green - verde scuro

CPF: Blu on its own is usually understood as dark blue.

If you want to look at lighter shades, here are some examples:

• Baby blue - celeste

• Baby pink - rosa confetto

If you want to talk about light shades, you can just add the word 'chiaro' at the end of each color.

• verde chiaro - light green

CPF: Azzurro on its own is usually understood as light blue.

Some slightly exotic precise descriptions of colors

• Blood red - rosso sangue

• Fire red - rosso fuoco

• Hot pink - rosa shocking

• Salmon pink - rosa salmone

• Blue green - verdeazzurro

• Emerald green - verde smeraldo

• Forest green - verde bosco

• Jade green - verde acqua

• Lilac - lilla

• Periwinkle - pervinca

• Violet - violetto

• Red-orange - rosso arancio

• Maroon - bordeaux

• Shiny/glossy red - rosso lucido

• Hazel brown - nocciola

CPF: That’s the same word for a hazelnut! - Nocciola

In English, we pick + choose certain colors for certain characteristics, and Italian is no different.

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Which colors should you use in which situations?