Colours in Arabic: word list with pictures
12 words · tap 🔊 to hear each one in Arabic.
| Picture | English | Arabic | Say it | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red | أَحْمَر | aḥmar | ||
| Yellow | أَصْفَر | aṣfar | ||
| Blue | أَزْرَق | azraq | ||
| Green | أَخْضَر | akhḍar | ||
| Orange | بُرْتُقَالِيّ | burtuqālī | ||
| Purple | بَنَفْسَجِيّ | banafsajī | ||
| Pink | وَرْدِيّ | wardī | ||
| Brown | بُنِّيّ | bunnī | ||
| Black | أَسْوَد | aswad | ||
| White | أَبْيَض | abyaḍ | ||
| Grey | رَمَادِيّ | ramādī | ||
| Sky Blue | سَمَاوِيّ | samāwī |
Colours in Arabic are among the most useful early words, because your child can use them to describe almost anything. This page teaches 12 colours with clear Modern Standard Arabic audio: أَحْمَر (aḥmar, red), أَصْفَر (aṣfar, yellow), أَزْرَق (azraq, blue), أَخْضَر (akhḍar, green), بُرْتُقَالِيّ (burtuqālī, orange), بَنَفْسَجِيّ (banafsajī, purple), وَرْدِيّ (wardī, pink), بُنِّيّ (bunnī, brown), أَسْوَد (aswad, black), أَبْيَض (abyaḍ, white), رَمَادِيّ (ramādī, grey) and سَمَاوِيّ (samāwī, sky blue). Tap a colour to hear it, then play Find it.
Two families of colour words
Arabic colour words come in two groups, and seeing this makes them much easier to remember.
The basic colours share one pattern, aFʿaL: أَحْمَر، أَصْفَر، أَزْرَق، أَخْضَر، أَسْوَد، أَبْيَض. They all begin with أ, which you can point out to a five-year-old who knows the Arabic alphabet.
The "things" colours are made from a word plus the ending -ī, meaning "like": بُرْتُقَالِيّ is "orange-like" (from بُرْتُقَال), وَرْدِيّ is "rose-like" (from وَرْد, roses), بُنِّيّ is "coffee-bean-like" (from بُنّ), رَمَادِيّ is "ash-like" (from رَمَاد, ash), بَنَفْسَجِيّ is "violet-like" and سَمَاوِيّ is "sky-like" (from سَمَاء). Children love these little stories.
Why colours change: aḥmar and ḥamrāʾ
Colours in Arabic agree with the thing they describe. The basic colours have a special feminine form:
| Colour | Masculine | Feminine | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red | أَحْمَر | حَمْرَاء | تُفَّاحَةٌ حَمْرَاء (a red apple) |
| Yellow | أَصْفَر | صَفْرَاء | شَمْسٌ صَفْرَاء (a yellow sun) |
| Blue | أَزْرَق | زَرْقَاء | سَيَّارَةٌ زَرْقَاء (a blue car) |
| Green | أَخْضَر | خَضْرَاء | تُفَّاحَةٌ خَضْرَاء (a green apple) |
| White | أَبْيَض | بَيْضَاء | غَيْمَةٌ بَيْضَاء (a white cloud) |
| Orange | بُرْتُقَالِيّ | بُرْتُقَالِيَّة | the "-ī" colours just add ـة |
The game says the masculine form, which is how colours are listed. At home, simply describe real things and your child will hear both forms. You will notice this in our fruit game too: green apple is تُفَّاحَةٌ خَضْرَاء.
Colours around us
Colours carry meaning in daily life. The flags of the UAE, Jordan and Kuwait share red, green, white and black, and children in the UAE learn the flag colours in kindergarten around National Day. Green is often linked with nature and growth, and white with purity and peace. The desert shows many shades of أَصْفَر and بُنِّيّ, while the Gulf sea is أَزْرَق. A rainbow is قَوْسُ قُزَح (qaws quzaḥ).
How to teach colours in Arabic at home
- Ask the question. ما لونه؟ (mā lawnuhu?, what colour is it?) Ask it about toys, cars and clothes.
- Colour of the day. "Today is أحمر day!" and hunt for red things.
- Sort and match. Sort socks, blocks or crayons into colour groups.
- Fruit colours. Name the fruit and its colour: موزة صفراء. The fruits name in Arabic page makes a good partner.
- Mix paints. Blue and yellow make green: أزرق وأصفر يصنعان أخضر.
Play "I spy" in Arabic: أرى بعيني شيئًا لونه أزرق ("I see with my eye something blue"). It works in the car, the kitchen or the park.
What to expect by age
Colour names are abstract, so children in every language take a while. At 2-3, they may say colour words before using them correctly. By 3-4, most match and name 4-6 colours. At 4-5, they name 8-10 colours and describe objects. At 5-6, they can read colour words with vowel marks and start using the feminine forms naturally. If your child keeps mixing up red and green, match before naming, and mention it to your paediatrician in case of a colour vision difference. For Urdu colour names, see colours in Urdu; for Hindi and English, colours name in Hindi and English. Keep sessions short and shared.
Colours for every child
Some children find colour words hard for longer than others, especially children with speech delay, autism or a colour vision difference. Start with matching: put a red block next to a red cup and say أحمر, without asking your child to say anything. Then ask them to give you the red one. Speaking comes last. Use the grown-up settings to turn on fewer choices, calm sound or high contrast if these help. Praise effort, not only right answers: أحسنت، حاولت! ("Well done, you tried!"). Every child gets there at their own pace.
أسماء الألوان للأطفال بالعربية
في هذه الصفحة اثنا عشر لونًا مع صوت واضح: أحمر، أصفر، أزرق، أخضر، برتقالي، بنفسجي، وردي، بني، أسود، أبيض، رمادي، سماوي. يلمس الطفل اللون فيسمع اسمه، ثم يلعب لعبة البحث عنه.
اسألوا أطفالكم كثيرًا: ما لونه؟ وصفوا الأشياء بألوانها: تفاحة حمراء، سماء زرقاء، شجرة خضراء. العبوا لعبة "أرى بعيني"، ورتّبوا الجوارب حسب ألوانها، واخلطوا الألوان المائية لاكتشاف ألوان جديدة.
How to use this page at home
Say it, then find it
Play for a few minutes, then look for the same thing away from the screen: arabic words on the shelf, in the kitchen, on the way to school. A child learns a word properly when they meet it twice, once on the screen and once in their hand.
Ten minutes is enough
Short and happy beats long and tired. Stop while your child still wants more, and come back tomorrow: the same page on five short days teaches far more than one long sitting. Nothing here is scored, so there is no reason to push.
Use both languages
Tap the language button at the top to hear the words in your home language first and the second language after. Hearing the same picture named in two languages is one of the few things research agrees builds attention as well as vocabulary.
