Colours and Shapes in Bengali: Words with Everyday Origins
The Bengali words for colours and shapes, many named after everyday things like turmeric and eggplant, with cultural notes on red, white and green.
Bengali colour words are wonderfully down to earth: several are named after the fruits, spices and vegetables they resemble.
Basic colours
- লাল (lal) — red
- নীল (nil) — blue
- সবুজ (sobuj) — green
- হলুদ (holud) — yellow (also the word for turmeric)
- কালো (kalo) — black
- সাদা (shada) — white
- কমলা (komola) — orange (also the word for the fruit)
- গোলাপি (golapi) — pink (from গোলাপ, golap, rose)
- বেগুনি (beguni) — purple (from বেগুন, begun, aubergine)
- বাদামি (badami) — brown (from বাদাম, badam, almond)
- ধূসর (dhushor) — grey
Light and dark
Add হালকা (halka, light) or গাঢ় (gadho, dark) before a colour: হালকা নীল (light blue), গাঢ় সবুজ (dark green).
Describing objects
Colours are adjectives, so they go before the noun: লাল শাড়ি (lal shari, red sari), সাদা ফুল (shada phul, white flower). Like other adjectives, they don't change for gender or number.
Shapes
- গোল (gol) — round
- চৌকো (chouko) — square
- লম্বা (lomba) — long or tall
- চ্যাপ্টা (chyapta) — flat
- বৃত্ত (britto) — circle
- ত্রিভুজ (tribhuj) — triangle
- আয়তক্ষেত্র (ayotokkhetro) — rectangle
Colour phrases
- আকাশ নীল — the sky is blue
- ঘাস সবুজ — grass is green
- ফুলটা লাল — the flower is red
- কালো চুল — black hair
Cultural associations
- Red and white are strongly associated with Bengali festive wear, especially the red-bordered white sari worn at Durga Puja and on Pohela Boishakh.
- White is also worn for mourning by some communities.
- Green and red appear in the flag of Bangladesh, a red circle on a green field.
- Yellow is linked to spring and to the festival of Saraswati Puja, when many people wear yellow.
- Blue is associated with the sky, rivers and Krishna.
Colour idioms
- লাল সালাম (lal salam) — "red salute", a phrase used in left-wing politics.
- সাদা মনের মানুষ (shada moner manush) — a person with a "white heart", meaning pure-hearted.
- কালো টাকা (kalo taka) — "black money", meaning undeclared income.
Learning tips
Match each word with an object of that colour around you, and learn the vegetable or fruit that gave it its name. The connection makes the word much easier to remember.
Practice
- Describe your clothes in Bengali.
- Point to objects and name colour and shape.
- Write a short paragraph describing a scene.
- Look up any new word in a dictionary.
English Bangla Dictionary
Offline English–Bangla dictionary with meanings in proper Bengali script
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