Russian Visual Dictionary – Colors

Let's make things more colorful by learning Russian vocabulary for colors (цвета́)! Just look at the picture and learn the name of the color in Russian. Then listen to audio recordings and practice saying the new words yourself.

Audio	Russian word	Pronunciation	English translation
Flash required.	кра́сный	KRAHS-niy	red
Flash required.	ора́нжевый	ah-RAHN-zhih-viy	orange
Flash required.	жёлтый	ZHOHL-tiy	yellow
Flash required.	зелёный	zee-LYOH-niy	green
Flash required.	голубо́й	gah-loo-BOY	sky blue, azure
Flash required.	ро́зовый	ROH-zuh-viy	pink
Flash required.	си́ний	SEE-neey	blue, navy blue; masterrussian.com
Flash required.	фиоле́товый	fee-ah-LYEH-tuh-viy	violet
Flash required.	чёрный	CHYOHR-niy	black
Flash required.	бе́лый	BYEH-liy	white
Flash required.	кори́чневый	kah-REECH-nee-viy	brown
Flash required.	се́рый	SYEH-riy	grey

Russian Colors Mnemonics

Here's a good mnemonic to remember the names of the colors of the rainbow in Russian. The first letter of each color's name matches the first letter of each word in this phrase — Каждый (красный - red) Охотник (оранжевый - orange) Желает (жёлтый - yellow) Знать (зелёный - green) Где (голубой - sky blue) Сидит (cиний - blue) Фазан (фиолетовый - violet, purple). It can be translated into English as "Every hunter wishes to know where the pheasant sits." Once again "Каждый охотник желает знать где сидит фазан".

In addition, it is easier to learn colors if you know why they are called that way. For example, розовый => роза (a rose); зелёный => зелень (greens); коричневый => кора (tree bark); жёлтый = желчь (bile)

Learning Russian Colors

A fun fact! Russians consider the colors "blue" and "sky blue" to be distinct colors rather than two shades of "blue". If you want to look at the world as Russians do, then you have to learn two separate words for these colors. Luckily, this page with audio recordings is a fantastic way to get the pronunciation of the Russian colors perfect from the very beginning. You can go back to the Russian picture dictionary to learn even more Russian words. There is also a section on Russian culture if you are looking for fun ways to learn Russian and understand Russians better.

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