Colors in Tigrinya

ቀለማት ብትግርኛ — learn the most common color words with their fidel and pronunciation.

Color English Tigrinya (Fidel) Pronunciation
Red ቀይሕ qeyiḥ
Blue ሰማያዊ semayawi
Green ቀጠልያ qeṭelya
Yellow ብጫ bicha
Black ጸሊም ṣelim
White ጻዕዳ ṣa'ida
Orange ብርቱኳናዊ birtukhanawi
Purple ሊላ lila
Pink ሮዛ roza
Brown ቡናዊ bunawi
Gray ሓሙዅሽቲ ḥamukushti
Gold ወርቃዊ werqawi
Silver ብሩራዊ birurawi

A few quick notes

  • The Tigrinya word for "color" is ቀለም (qelem); the plural "colors" is ቀለማት (qelemat).
  • Color adjectives in Tigrinya can change form to agree with masculine/feminine nouns — for example "red" is ቀይሕ (m.) and ቀያሕ (f.).
  • Many modern colors (orange, pink, purple) are loanwords adapted into Tigrinya.

Learning vocabulary is much faster once you can read the script. Start with our interactive Tigrinya alphabet chart, then come back here.