How to say "blue" in Japanese

• ブルーJLPT N1approx.Common
  no-adjectiveThe loanword for the colour blue, at home in fashion, design and everyday speech; it can also describe a gloomy mood, echoing English 'feeling blue'.
  あなたはブルーの服ふくを着きるととてもすてきだ。↗

  You are very attractive in blue.
• 青あおJLPT N5approx.Common
  no-adjectiveThe basic noun for blue and azure; its range is wider than English 'blue', stretching into green, so some things English calls green take 青 instead.
• 青いあおいJLPT N5approx.Common
  i-adjectiveThe adjective, and the everyday way to say something is blue — the sky, the sea. Like 青, its range can stretch toward green.
  なぜ空そらが青あおいか知しっているか。↗

  Do you know why the sky is blue?
• 青色あおいろCommon
  no-adjectiveLiterally 'the colour blue'; the choice when naming the colour as such — on forms, charts or in answer to 'what colour is it?' — rather than describing an object as blue.
  私は青色あおいろが一番いちばん好すきです。↗

  I like blue best of all colors.
• ピンクJLPT N2approx.Common
  no-adjectiveThis is really the word for pink; its 'blue' sense is only the slang one — erotic or pornographic, as when English 'blue' means risqué — so it is seldom what you want for the colour.

Use 「青い」 to describe something as blue, 青 for the colour as a noun, 青色 when naming the colour itself, 「ブルー」 as the loanword, and 「ピンク」 only for the slang 'blue' meaning erotic.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

• ブルーblue
• 青あおblue
• 青いあおいblue
• 青色あおいろblue
• 蒼然そうぜんblue
• 蒼々そうそうblue (sky, ocean, etc.)
• ピンクerotic
• 重いおもいheavy (feeling)