Red is rojo and blue is verde - ¿Qué?
Our "Spanish Matters" topic today revolves around colours.
Both English and Spanish are very "colourful" languages which use metaphors, similes and symbolism to great effect.
But they do not often correspond in the two languages.
[Image courtesy of Wild Lark]
Colours are used to describe, well, the colour of things. But they are also used figuratively to convey other meanings.
For example, Peter is green with envy; Mary is feeling blue (sad); It was a black day for Liverpool (the "Reds") when they lost the Carabao Cup Final to Newcastle United on 16 March 2025; yellow = cowardly; and so on.
But are they used consistently in this way in English and Spanish? "No way, José!"
[Image courtesy of Amazon]
red/rojo
Expressions in English like "red mist", "red lines" and a "red-eye" flight do not have Spanish equivalents using the adjective rojo.
Others
For him it's like a red rag to a bull = es lo que más le saca de quicio
to go into the red = contraer deudas
to go as red as a beetroot = ponerse como un tomate
reds under the bed = la amenaza comunista
[Cartoon courtesy of LinkedIn]
blue/azul
Lots of terms and expressions in English, such as blue-jeans, blue joke, and blue-collar worker, do not have equivalents in Spanish using azul.
Others
a blue film = una película porno
His death came out of the blue = Su muerte cayó como una bomba
He's got the blues = Está deprimido
once in a blue moon = de Pascuas a Ramos
you can shout till you're blue in the face = puedes gritar hasta hartarte
[Image courtesy of US Adult Literacy]
yellow/amarillo
Expressions using yellow are commonly translateable between English and Spanish.
However, the yellow press is la prensa sensacionalista and he has a yellow streak (ie is a coward) is translated as es un poco gallina (chicken) or miédica.
[Image: Adobe Stock]
green/verde
In English green often has the sense of naive or inexperienced (except in the context of gardening, eg green-fingered), whereas in Spanish it is often a pejorative adjective for a person or a thing that is sexually "dodgy".
Others:
Paqui was very green when it came to relationships with men = Paqui era muy naive .....
un viejo verde = a dirty old man
una revista verde = a porn mag
una película verde = a "skin flick" or pornographic movie
[Cartoon courtesy of Facebook]
Acknowledgements:
Adobe Stock, Amazon, Facebook, LinkedIn, US Adult Literacy, Wild Lark
© don Pablo
Tags:
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