- Ao (color)
Ao ("
hiragana " あお;kanji 青; adjective form nihongo|aoi|青い|)is a Japanesecolor word that includes what English-speakers would callblue andgreen . For example, in Japan, green traffic lights are described as nihongo|"ao shingō"|青信号|, and blue skies are described as nihongo|"aozora "|青空|, as inaozora bunko ."Ao" v. "Midori"
Modern Japanese has a separate word for green (緑 "midori"), although its boundaries are not the same as in English. Ancient Japanese did not have this distinction: the word midori only came into use in the
Heian period , and at that time (and for a long time thereafter) midori was still considered a shade of ao. Educational materials distinguishing green and blue only came into use afterWorld War II , during the Occupation: thus, even though most Japanese consider them to be green, the word ao is still used to describe certainvegetable s,apple s andvegetation . Ao is also the name for the color of a traffic light, "green" in English. However, most other objects—a green car, a greensweater , and so forth—will generally be called midori. Japanese people also sometimes use the English word "green" for colors. The language also has several other words meaning specific shades of green and blue.Other meanings
The color ao can also indicate youth, as in the song "aoi kajitsu" (a song about a young girl) by singer
Momoe Yamaguchi , a meaning that stems from theon'yomi (Chinese-based reading) "sei" of the kanji for "ao". Yamaguchi's biography about her youth was called "aoi toki" (my young days). Fresh fruit in Japan is sometimes written nihongo|"seika"|青果|.The word "aoi" can also mean a
hollyhock . In writing, this form of "aoi" appears in Japanese as "hiragana " あおい , or あふひ inhistorical kana usage , and "kanji " 葵."Ao" also appears in the name of
Aomori Prefecture .See also
*
Blue-green across cultures
*Traditional colors of Japan
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