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How to Say Colours in Indonesian Language – Example and Meaning

Holla Fellas! How ya doin’? Good, I know. LOL!

Okay, there is a new lesson today. We’re gonna learn about colors in Bahasa Indonesia. So, it’s the same as English, actually. And, a lots of colors too. but, we’re just gonna learn the common colors in Bahasa Indonesia. We’re gonna start from rainbow, *LOL! I like the color*

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How to say colours in Indonesian

  • Rainbow : Pelangi
  • Red : Merah
  • Orange : Jingga
  • Yellow : Kuning
  • Green : Hijau
  • Blue : Biru
  • Indigo : Nila
  • Purple : Ungu

So, those are the basic colors and the Bahasa Indonesia translation. Those are the formal way how the say colors in Bahasa Indonesia. But, some of people use slang. I know. Yes, they even use slang for colors.  Sometimes, they use it because they’re just too lazy to say the original word. They will say “Item” instead of “Hitam” for Black, “Oren” instead of “Jingga” for Orange, and “Ijo” instead of “Hijau” for Green.

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Now you know that it’s not just western culture who shortened the words. Indonesian are also sometimes too lazy to open their mouth to say the full word. And, there are some words that actually come from English word, such as “Oren” and “Pink”. Indonesian don’t say “Merah Jambu” for “Pink”, but they’re stay still with “Pink”.

How to say colours in Indonesian? In English, sometimes the words also followed by Dark and Light. It means, “Tua” and “Muda” in Bahasa Indonesia. Tua and Muda also common in “age”. They say “Tua” for old and “Muda” for young. But, it also used in color. They say “Tua” for Dark and “Muda” for Light.

  • Light Green : Hijau Muda
  • Dark Green : Hijau Tua
  • Light Blue : Biru Muda
  • Dark Blue : Biru Tua

But, there’s an exception for Pink. They just say Pink, instead of Light Red. Eventhough the Bahasa Indonesia version is Merah Muda.

In Indonesia, they say Brown with “Cokelat”. It’s because the color is like chocolate. So, there’s no another word but Cokelat.

  • Light Brown : Cokelat Muda
  • Dark Brown : Cokelat Tua

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Interesting Fact about Colors in Indonesian 

How to say colours in indonesian? In Madura, most of people see blue as green color. They don’t see blue as its own color. But, yeah~ this is the culture. They will answer with blue if you try to show a thing with green color and ask what color is that. Don’t laugh at their answer, you don’t want them to be mad at you, do you? That’s what makes them look unique.

Another one is, people in Indonesia are sometimes say colors followed by something that has similar color, such as food,  clothes, etc. For example, they say “Hijau Tentara”, it means that they see color who has the same tone as Indonesian soldier’s (Tentara) uniform. “Putih Tulang”, it means that they see color who has the same tone as bone (tulang).

Categories: Vocabulary