青い

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. 海は青いです。▶ —
   The sea is blue.
2. 青い顔をしています。▶ —
   You look pale (blue-faced).

Collocations

Mnemonic

あおい — 青い, Yamato. An i-adjective. Japanese 青 (aoi) does not line up exactly with English blue or Korean parata ── sea and sky are 青い in the same way English knows them, but a 青信号 (a 'blue' traffic light) is actually the green light. This is a fossil: classical Japanese saw blue and green as one colour ── a trace of the original four-colour vocabulary (赤 · 白 · 黒 · 青). Green only split off later, when 緑 midori entered the language; the old idioms still wear the old eye. 青 stretches a metaphor chain through body and character ── 青い顔 aoi kao (a 'blue face' = drained, pale): shock, fear, pain. まだまだ青い mada mada aoi: still raw, a greenhorn. Colour → body → character, all carried by one word. Korean 'saeparake jillida / putnaegi' walks almost the same path.

Quick check

1. Meaning of まだまだ青い when applied to a person?

   • Inexperienced, still green
   • Has a pale face
   • Likes blue clothing
   • Young in age (objective)