Colours in Vietnamese: word list with pictures
12 words · tap 🔊 to hear each one in Vietnamese.
| Picture | English | Vietnamese | Say it | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red | Màu đỏ | |||
| Yellow | Màu vàng | |||
| Blue | Màu xanh dương | |||
| Green | Màu xanh lá | |||
| Orange | Màu cam | |||
| Purple | Màu tím | |||
| Pink | Màu hồng | |||
| Brown | Màu nâu | |||
| Black | Màu đen | |||
| White | Màu trắng | |||
| Grey | Màu xám | |||
| Sky Blue | Màu xanh da trời |
Colors in Vietnamese are among the first describing words a child learns, and they are easy to use every day. This page has 12 colours with pictures and clear audio: màu đỏ (red), màu vàng (yellow), màu xanh dương (blue), màu xanh lá (green), màu cam (orange), màu tím (purple), màu hồng (pink), màu nâu (brown), màu đen (black), màu trắng (white), màu xám (grey) and màu xanh da trời (sky blue). The word màu means colour, and màu sắc means colours in general.
The famous word xanh
Vietnamese has one word, xanh, that covers both blue and green, the way the sky and leaves were once seen as one family of colour. To be clear, people add a describing word:
| Vietnamese | Literally | English |
|---|---|---|
| xanh lá (cây) | leaf xanh | green |
| xanh dương | ocean xanh | blue |
| xanh da trời | sky-skin xanh | sky blue |
| xanh nước biển | sea-water xanh | navy / sea blue |
So if your child calls a green ball "xanh", they are right. Help them add lá or dương as they grow. Fun fact: a traffic light's green is also called đèn xanh.
How to use colour words in a sentence
Colours come after the thing they describe: quả bóng đỏ (red ball), con mèo đen (black cat), áo vàng (yellow shirt). In everyday speech màu is often dropped. To ask about colour, say "Cái này màu gì?" (What colour is this?). Adding nhạt makes a colour light and đậm makes it dark: xanh nhạt, đỏ đậm.
Colours in Vietnamese life
Red and yellow are the colours of celebration. At Tết, children receive lì xì in red envelopes, homes are hung with red couplets, and yellow apricot blossoms (hoa mai) glow in the South while pink peach blossoms (hoa đào) fill the North. At Tết Trung Thu, children carry bright đèn ông sao (star lanterns). Many schoolgirls wear a white áo dài. Each festival is a ready-made colour conversation.
Colours by age
At 2-3, children match colours before naming them, so start with "find another one like this". Vietnamese preschools teach the basic colours in lớp Mầm (3-4): đỏ, vàng, xanh. At 4-5 children name most colours and sort toys, and at 5-6 they mix paint: đỏ + vàng = cam, xanh dương + vàng = xanh lá.
Colour games at home
- Colour hunt. "Tìm cái gì màu vàng!" (Find something yellow!).
- Fruit sort. Sort the fruit bowl, then name them in fruits in Vietnamese.
- Rainbow. Draw a cầu vồng and name each stripe.
- Lantern craft. Colour a paper star lantern before Trung Thu.
- Dress-up choice. "Con muốn mặc áo màu gì?" (What colour shirt do you want?)
How to use the colours game
Start in Listen with three colours only. Then play Find it: Golu names a colour in Vietnamese and your child taps it. A wrong tap never hears "wrong"; the game names what was tapped and shows the right one. Every round ends with a marble in the Goli Jar. Settings include high contrast, calm sound and fewer choices.
Mixing up blue and green is common, and in Vietnamese it is even built into the word xanh, so relax. If you notice ongoing trouble telling colours apart, talk to your paediatrician. English colour names are on colours name for kids.
Colours for Vietnamese families abroad
Colours are an easy daily habit wherever you live. Name the colour of your child's cup at breakfast, the bus on the way to school and the crayons at drawing time. Praise drawings in Vietnamese, "Tranh của con nhiều màu đẹp quá!" (Your picture has such lovely colours!). At Tết, even far from Vietnam, a red envelope and a yellow flower on the table start a colour conversation. If your child says "blue" first, just answer "Đúng rồi, màu xanh dương!" and carry on.
Bé học màu sắc
Trang này giúp bé học 12 màu: màu đỏ, màu vàng, màu xanh dương, màu xanh lá, màu cam, màu tím, màu hồng, màu nâu, màu đen, màu trắng, màu xám và màu xanh da trời. Bé chạm vào màu để nghe tên bằng tiếng Việt và tiếng Anh.
Sau khi chơi, ba mẹ hãy cùng bé tìm đồ vật có màu trong nhà, như quả bóng đỏ hay chiếc lá xanh. Hỏi bé "Cái này màu gì?" nhiều lần trong ngày. Dịp Tết và Trung Thu là lúc tuyệt vời để nói về màu đỏ của bao lì xì và màu sắc rực rỡ của đèn ông sao.
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: vietnamese 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.
