An additional thing you might want to look up is given color is a spectrum, some cultures have developed different sets of “basic colors” that are used in daily life.
For instance, Russian has a very common word “Голубой” which means light blue, and I personally remember being very confused as a kid learning English by a single word “Blue” presented in Eng. textbooks
Yes, I’m aware that in any language there are many words to signify different shades of different colors. I’m not trying to make the point that there are no words in English for light shade of blue and that Russian is somehow superior.
You won’t see stuff like “aquamarine” or “cerulean” in A1 English textbook though, as these are complex words not even all native speakers use. Cyan is a possible candidate, but most likely in colors section only “Blue” will be represented. That is my personal experience though.
In Russian, a word for “light blue” is a very common color that is referenced all the time alongside “blue”, children knowing it from very young age. My point is different cultures have different sets of commonly operated colors, not words for colors overall.
This creates curious confusions, just now I’ve looked for translations between RU and ENG, and in different sources “Blue” is translated both as “Синий” (darker blue) and “Голубой” (lighter blue).
An additional thing you might want to look up is given color is a spectrum, some cultures have developed different sets of “basic colors” that are used in daily life.
For instance, Russian has a very common word “Голубой” which means light blue, and I personally remember being very confused as a kid learning English by a single word “Blue” presented in Eng. textbooks
Italian also has two distinct blues: azzurro for light and blu for dark
Cyan aquamarine teal cobalt skyblue cerulean sapphire
Yes, I’m aware that in any language there are many words to signify different shades of different colors. I’m not trying to make the point that there are no words in English for light shade of blue and that Russian is somehow superior.
You won’t see stuff like “aquamarine” or “cerulean” in A1 English textbook though, as these are complex words not even all native speakers use. Cyan is a possible candidate, but most likely in colors section only “Blue” will be represented. That is my personal experience though.
In Russian, a word for “light blue” is a very common color that is referenced all the time alongside “blue”, children knowing it from very young age. My point is different cultures have different sets of commonly operated colors, not words for colors overall.
This creates curious confusions, just now I’ve looked for translations between RU and ENG, and in different sources “Blue” is translated both as “Синий” (darker blue) and “Голубой” (lighter blue).
The I in ROYGBIV is indigo, which is just dark blue. Maybe blue was light blue all along