In Arabic, many words referring to colors are derived from things that are found in nature and that have the color as pertinent to them, e.g brown is derived from coffee beans, pink is derived from flower, golden is derived from gold, and so on. These words are formed by adding a (ي) at the end of the relevant word, for example:

بنفسجي

“Lilac”

Derived from (بنفسج) which means lilac

بني

“Brown”

Derived from (بن) which means coffee beans

رمادي

“Grey”

Derived from (رماد) which means ash

ذهبي

“Gold”

Derived from (ذهب) which means gold

فضي

“Silver”

Derived from (فضة) which means silver

برتقالي

“Orange”

Derived from (برتقال) which means orange

زهري

“Pink”

Derived from (زهرة) which means flower

زيتوني

“Olive green”

Derived from (زيتون) which means olive

وردي

“Bright red”

Derived from (ورد) which means rose

 

Other words relate to colors are formed by adjectives following the pattern (أفعل), for example

أحمر

“Red”

أخضر

“Green”

أصفر

“Yellow”

أزرق

“Blue”

أسود

“Black”

أبيض

“White”

Other colors are transliterations from European languages, for example:

موف

“Mauve”

تركواز

“Turquoise”