# γαλανός ή γαλάζιος



## BrendaP

Which is the correct “blue” to use for describing the sky...γαλανός ή γαλάζιος;  It seems to me that I’ve seen them both used.


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## alfie1888

I learned the difference by committing to heart the following: 

μάτια γαλανά
γαλάζιος ουρανός


I don't think I've ever heard them the other way round, that is to say I have only heard them as I've written them here and as far as I know they are not interchangeable. Though I have also heard μάτια μπλε recently!

Also, just Googled it and now that I think about it, I have heard and used interchangeably: γαλάζια / γαλανή θάλασσα.

Though I am not a native speaker and I guess we'll have to wait for some natives to tell you the information you need and then possible correct me!


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## cougr

I'm quite sure that γαλανός and γαλάζιος are largely interchangeable and can both be used to describe the colour of the sky or the eyes (or for that matter anything with a bluish hue).

I presume that they are used synonymously by most people but I wonder whether they may in fact, when strictly speaking, refer to different hues of blue.


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## BrendaP

Interesting.  I learned «γαλανός ουρανός» years ago and only recently heard of «γαλάζιος ουρανός».  And I learned that you don’t use «μπλε» when talking about the sky.  I’m wondering if time has changed the “rules” in some cases. Maybe we should wait for a native speaker of Greek to give us an explanation.  But thank you both for your input.


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## shawnee

My non native speaker status, notwithstanding, I would only use μπλέ when referring to a colour chart or some other applied use of colour.


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## Perseas

They are synonyms. I can use either "_γαλανός_" or "_γαλάζιος_" to describe the cloudless, light blue sky or the calm sea. The common adjective for the colour of the eyes is "_γαλανά_". However, in compound words we *can't choose* among these 2 adjectives. So we say only: "γαλανομάτης", _"γαλαζοπράσινος", "γαλαζοαίματος", "γαλανόλευκος_" (see:_"γαλανόλευκη σημαία"_= the Greek flag.).


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## Andrious

I think that "γαλανή θάλασσα" isn't as common as "γαλάζια θάλασσα". So does googling say.


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## BrendaP

Thank you all so much.

Shawnee, it was very thoughtless of me to use the term “native”speaker and I apologize for that.  Whenever you post, I find myself checking your “native language” and it always surprises me that Greek is not your first language.


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## shawnee

Όλα καλά. You are aware I hope that using a large font in forums is the equivalent of shouting?


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## BrendaP

Again, I apologize. Because it always takes three or four tries for my post to actually go through, I copy and paste from a Word document so I don’t have to type it over and over.  I didn’t realize it was coming up as size 3 because on my screen it appears to be the same size as the other posts.  I’m aware that typing in uppercase letters is shouting.  Hadn’t heard about larger size font, though.  If that’s the case, I hope my eyesight never gets worse than it already is.


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