Basic
| Vietnamese | English |
|---|---|
| màu sắc | color |
| trắng | white |
| đen | black |
| đỏ | red |
| (da) cam | orange |
| vàng | yellow |
| xanh | green, blue |
| chàm | indigo |
| tím | violet |
| tía | purple |
| hồng | pink |
| xám, ghi |
gray |
| nâu | brown |
Extended
| Vietnamese | English |
|---|---|
| đỏ tươi | scarlet |
| đỏ son | vermilion |
| be | beige |
| vàng chanh | lime |
| xanh nõn chuối | chartreuse green |
| xanh lá (cây) | green |
| xanh lơ | cyan |
| xanh da trời, thiên thanh |
azure |
| xanh nước biển, xanh dương |
blue |
| hồng cánh sen | magenta |
Sino-Vietnamese
Similar to numbers, Sino-Vietnamese colors in most cases are not for replacing the “native” colors, but they remain significant from cultural and scientific perspectives.
| Sino-Vietnamese | English | Chinese characters |
|---|---|---|
| bạch | white | 白 |
| hắc | black | 黑 |
| hồng | red | 紅 |
| hoàng | yellow | 黃 |
| lục | green | 綠 |
| thanh | green-blue, cyan | 青 |
| lam | blue | 藍 |
| tử | purple | 紫 |
If you look closely, you will see that some of those Sino-Vietnamese words are very similar to the “native” ones above. It is because those “native” words actually have Chinese origins.
| Sino-Vietnamese | Non-Sino-Vietnamese | English | Chinese characters |
|---|---|---|---|
| hoàng | vàng | yellow | 黃 |
| thanh | xanh | green, blue | 青 |
| lam | chàm | blue | 藍 |
| tử | tía | purple | 紫 |
Note
-
In a native context, hồng means “pink”, but in a Sino-Vietnamese context, it means “red”.
-
Cam — orange — is actually Sino-Vietnamese, from 柑