파란색 vs 파랑색 vs 푸른 | why are there many variations for colors in Korean?

안녕하세요 리더님~ Koreanstudyjunkie입니다!

You may already know the colors in Korean, but you've stumbled upon a few variations of the same colors.

What is 푸른?

푸른 is combination of blue and green, 파란색 + 초록색, and It's used commonly to refer to the sky, the forest, and the sea like :

푸른 하늘 ~ sky

푸른 숲 ~ forest

푸른 바다 ~ sea

푸른 is an adjective

파란색 is a noun (파란 + 색)

I recommend you reviewing light vowel vs dark vowels in Korean 푸르다. But to put it simply, darker vowels are deeper, larger, heavier versions of the lighter vowels.

Also, when it comes to color words, dark vowel words are generally more literary/metaphorical, whereas lighter vowel words are more artistic/painting-related.

This light vowel vs dark vowel distinction is mostly articulated through the color and onomatopoeia.

Darker vowel ------ Lighter vowel

푸르다 --------퍼렇다/파랗다 (blue)

누르다----------누렇다/노랗다 (yellow)

붉다 ------------뻘겋다/빨갛다 (red)

검다 ------------꺼멓다/까맣다 (black)

희다 ----------- 허옇다/하얗다 (white)

푸르다 is the darker vowel version of 파랗다, it means the pronounced/articulated version of that lighter vowel 파랗다.

Something is 파랗다 if it is more crisp blue, crisp green, more vivid in color and "lighter" in the nuance (파란불, 파란색 - something more art-related, or smaller-scale daily materials)

Something is 푸르다 if it's deeper in color tone or larger in size (i.e. 푸른 숲, 푸른 바다, 푸른 하늘 all very big, all very deep "things")

Native Korean Colors & Forms:

Verbs:

파랗다

빨갛다

노랗다

희다 (하얗다)

검다 (까맣다)

Example Sentences:

하늘이 파래요. = The sky is blue.

these verbs are irregular and have a special conjugation when conjugating with 아/어요.

너 왜 이마에 멍이 파랗게 들었니?

= Why do you have a blue bruise on your forehead?

그들은 벽을 파랗게 칠했습니다.

They painted the wall blue.

Nouns:

파랑/파란색

빨강/빨간색

노랑/노란색

하양/흰색

검정/검은색

Example Sentences:

파란색에 빨간색을 섞어서 보라색을 만들었어요.

I mixed red with blue and made purple.

파란색 하나 주세요.

= Please give me a blue one.

저는 파란색으로만 그림을 그렸어요.

I drew a picture using only blue.

Adjectives:

파란

빨간

노란

하얀

검은

Example Sentences:

회사 컴퓨터에 계속 파란 화면만 떠.

= My computer at work keeps on blue screening me.

저는 파란 눈이 있잖아!

= I have blue eyes (as you know)!

유민이는 오늘 밝고 시원해 보이는 파란 원피스를 입었어요.

= Yoomin wore a blue dress that looks bright and cool today.

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That's all for this lesson! It's kind of a confusing topic, but hopefully I helped you to understand a tiny bit more.

If you want a more comprehensive list of the main colors in Korean, you can click HERE!