# Hindi: colors / colours



## amiramir

Dear all,

There is a very interesting thread for colors in Urdu: http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/urdu-colors.2058320/

To the extent that colors and usage are different in Hindi (maybe they're not), I thought I would start this thread. In spoken urban Hindi, I had a question on the following colors in particular:


Brown
Pink -- do we say gulaabi?
Gold -- what's the difference between sona and sunhera?
Purple -- do people actually use baingani? or does everyone just say purple?
Orange -- do people use naarangi or do we just say orange? (In the Urdu post, linked above, someone said it was naaranji. Same in Hindi?)
(In my family, colors are almost used in English, what the occasional exception of laal, kaala, and safed. And hara, but only in the context of hari mirch).

Lastly,  for the colors that are derived from fruits and vegetables, I've never really heard them as attributive adjectives, but that could be my lack of exposure. For example:

purple shirt -- is this 'baingani kameez' or baingani rang ki kameez?'
orange spectacles -- is this naarangi ainak or naarangi rang ka ainak?'
pink flower -- is this 'gulaabi phool' or 'gulaabi rang ka phool?'
Many thanks.


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## Englishmypassion

Brown= bhoora,
Pink= gulaabi
Golden = sunehra ( colour)
Gold (metal)= sona ( metal) 
Purple = baingni ( both used but these days English words more common among well educated urban citizens, I think)
Orange= naarangi ( as previous)
Black = kaala, not kaal.
Gulaabi phool/noun is very common but so are gulaabi/baingni/naarangi+rang ka/ki/ke noun.


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## amiramir

Thanks, empji. With regards to naarangi. etc ainak vs. naarangi rang ka ainak, I was thinking of the Urdu post on colors where someone suggested that one would never say, "chaandi + noun," but rather "chaandi rang ka/ki/ke + noun." But maybe chaandi is a different case because it's a noun in itself.


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## Englishmypassion

Chaandi is quite different. In fact, it's not used commonly for indicating colour in Hindi except in a simile way.
But yes "naarangi/baingni+ rang ka + noun" is probably a little more common than these adjectives as a direct predicative. But I am not very sure.


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## littlepond

Both "naarangii ainak" and "naarangii rang vaalaa ainak" are fine, and so on for other colours. "chandi" means silver as metal, not the silver colour really; I have no idea what people used for this colour earlier when English was not widespread (maybe "ujlaa raNg"? - i.e., "bright colour"), but since a long time "silver colour" is widespread even in the rural areas.


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## Englishmypassion

I think sometimes "chamkeela rang" is used for silver colour, though "chamkeela" is also used in the sense of "bright", e.g. chamkeela/gehra laal = bright red.


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## Alfaaz

littlepond said:
			
		

> ... vaalaa ainak ...


 Note: _3ainak_ is feminine.


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## mundiya

^ Indeed, ainak is feminine while chasmaa is masculine.


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## marrish

Typo: chas*h*mah/a .


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## Khaanabadosh

Englishmypassion said:


> I think sometimes "chamkeela rang" is used for silver colour, though "chamkeela" is also used in the sense of "bright", e.g. chamkeela/gehra laal = bright red.


gehra would be used for dark shades. The word 'chaTak' is commonly used for bright colours.


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## littlepond

Alfaaz said:


> Note: _3ainak_ is feminine.



Indeed it is. Thanks for the correction!


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## marrish

littlepond said:


> Both "naarangii ainak" and "naarangii rang vaalaa ainak" are fine, and so on for other colours. *"chandi" means silver as metal, not the silver colour really; I have no idea what people used for this colour earlier when English was not widespread (maybe "ujlaa raNg"? - i.e., "bright colour")*, but since a long time "silver colour" is widespread even in the rural areas.


*I agree that chaaNdii means silver only. In Urdu we use رُپہلا rupahlaa for 'silver coloured'. Maybe it was used in Hindi back then?*


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## littlepond

@marrish jii, did you mean "chaandii" instead?

"rupahlaa" is used in Hindi too, but I always thought it means a "fair colour" (if there exists something like that in English), not really silver. Maybe I had a wrong idea.


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## marrish

I meant _chaaNdii_ (N-for nasalization). But I may be wrong for Hindi.


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## littlepond

^ That's interesting. I have never heard _chaaNdii_ in my life: whether it be Hindi or Urdu speakers.


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## marrish

I think you would have heard it from Urdu speakers but not noticed it. At least most Urdu speakers would say it so, I believe. Anyway, this is how I say it. That's for the Urdu part, and I'm also curious about the n pronunciation in Hindi. By the way, how it is spelt correctly in Hindi?


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## Khaanabadosh

marrishji, can you give me the context in which you have seen chaandii being used? I have seen 'chaandii jaisa' but not 'chaandii rang'.


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## marrish

Khaanabadosh said:


> marrishji, can you give me the context in which you have seen chaandii being used? I have seen 'chaandii jaisa' but not 'chaandii rang'.


I didn't think of any specific context when I mentioned _chaaNdii_. To clarify, Khaanabadosh jii, I have never claimed that '_chaandii_ rang' (or _chaaNdii rang_) was suitable for "silver colour(ed)". I only agreed that _chaandii_ was a metal, not a colour. For a colour, rup_ai_hlaa is the adjective. _chaandii rang_ is also not right, it can be _chaandii kaa rang _so an adjective for it will be _chaandii ke rang kaa/-ii/-e.

We are discussing with littlepond jii the nasal N in chaaNdii/chaandii.

_


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## mundiya

I'm perplexed by littlepond jii's comment because the norm is indeed chaaNdii चाँदी in Hindi. It's important to remember N doesn't have the same sound in every word. The structure of the word plays a role in how vowel nasalization is pronounced. Hence, N sounds different in yahaaN यहाँ than in chaaNdii चाँदी. But it's a nasal N in both words.

Secondly, "rupahlaa" does mean silver colour in Hindi, and for that matter so does "chaaNdii kaa/ke rang".


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## littlepond

Interesting comments from both marrish jii and mundiya jii: maybe my ears were not attentive enough, as I am more used to the full 'n' (and not nasal 'n'). I will listen more carefully the next time in different settings how people are pronouncing it. As far as what I am used to is concerned, both "chaand" (moon) and "chaandii", even if written with the chandramaa dot, have the full "n" and not nasal "n" (by nasal "n", I mean something like in "raNg"). Of course, the sound of "yahaaN" is out of question for all of us, I presume.


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## mundiya

^ "rang" in standard usage is with half consonantal n and is indeed different from the nasal vowel N in chaaNdii. Hence, "rang" in the standard language is properly रंग. In dialectical/regional usage, however, it can be pronounced with nasal vowel N and written रँग.


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## littlepond

Oh! And what about couryard: "aangan" or "aaNgan", for you? For me, it is "aaNgan" (nasal n), not the same 'n' as in "chaandii".


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## amiramir

Hi all,

Two follow up questions pls:
1) How do you ask 'What color is this?' Is it Yeh kyaa rang hai? or Yeh kaunsa rang hai?
2) If referring to something specific-- what color is the car-- is it: yeh gaaRi kis rang ki hai? or yeh gaarDi kya/kaunsa rang hai (the latter sounds weird to me)
3) Lastly, above we said dark colors are gehra i.e. dark blue is gehraa neela. What is light blue? Would I say halka neela?

Thanks


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## littlepond

amiramir said:


> 1) How do you ask 'What color is this?' Is it Yeh kyaa rang hai? or Yeh kaunsa rang hai? -- Both; purists may prefer the latter.
> 2) If referring to something specific-- what color is the car-- is it: yeh gaaRi*i* kis rang ki*i* hai? (or "yeh gaaRii kis raNg meN hai?" - more when you are choosing a car model in a showroom)
> 3) Lastly, above we said dark colors are gehra i.e. dark blue is gehraa neela. What is light blue? Would I say halka neela? - Exactly! If faded blue, फीका नीला


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