Colours in English

'What's your favourite colour?', 'What colour are your eyes?' or 'What colour is the car?' - these are the most common questions about colour in English. If you know the names of the colours in English, you will answer those questions. 

Here is the list of the most common colour: 

White 

the colour of snow, milk or bone 

Black 

the darkest colour like a very dark night.

Red 

Roses are red, violets are blue.

Yellow 

The leaves were beginning to turn yellow.

Orange  

Carrots are orange. 

Green  

Green is the colour of grass.  

Blue 

The sky was blue. 

Purple 

Purple is the colour of plum. 

Pink 

The pink lipstick is my mam's.  

Brown 

The colour of coffee is brown.  

Grey/Gray  

The air was thick with the grey smoke of cigars. 

Warning 

Color is the American spelling of colour. Other than the spelling, there is no difference between the two words.  

Colour+ish  

If something is similar to the colour that you want to describe, you can use the suffix –ish (though not black or white).  

• greenish car (almost green) 
• reddish hair 

Shades 

A shade of a particular colour is one of its different types or degrees. For example, navy blue is a shade of blue. 

We commonly use light, bright and dark to describe a colour.

   

You can talk about shades of colour by using nature words.

sky blue, forest green, midnight blue, etc.