Ao (
hiraganais a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora...
あお;
kanjiare the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet . The Japanese term kanji literally means "Han characters".- History :Chinese characters first came to Japan on...
青;
adjectiveAccording to many analyses, the Japanese language does not have words that function as adjectives in a syntactic sense, i.e. tree diagrams of Japanese sentences can be constructed without employing adjective phrases. However, there are words that function as adjectives in a semantic sense...
form )
is a
Japaneseis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family. There are a number of proposed relationships with other languages, but none have gained general acceptance...
colorColor or colour is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, yellow, blue and others. Color derives from the spectrum of light interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors...
word that includes what English-speakers would call
blueBlue is a colour, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 440–490 nm. It is considered one of the additive primary colours. On the HSV Colour Wheel, the complement of blue is yellow; that is, a colour corresponding to an equal...
and
greenGreen is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometres. In the subtractive color system, it is not a primary color, but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue, or yellow and cyan; it is considered...
. For example, in Japan, green traffic lights are described as , and blue skies are described as , as in
aozora bunkoAozora Bunko Aozora Bunko Aozora Bunko , is a Japanese digital library. This on-line collection encompasses several thousands of works of Japanese-language fiction and non-fiction...
.
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 periodThe is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. The period is named after the capital city of Heian-kyō, or modern Kyoto. It is the period in Japanese history when Buddhism, Confucianism and other Chinese influences were at their height...
, and at that time (and for a long time thereafter) midori was still considered a shade of ao.
Ao (
hiraganais a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora...
あお;
kanjiare the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet . The Japanese term kanji literally means "Han characters".- History :Chinese characters first came to Japan on...
青;
adjectiveAccording to many analyses, the Japanese language does not have words that function as adjectives in a syntactic sense, i.e. tree diagrams of Japanese sentences can be constructed without employing adjective phrases. However, there are words that function as adjectives in a semantic sense...
form )
is a
Japaneseis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family. There are a number of proposed relationships with other languages, but none have gained general acceptance...
colorColor or colour is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, yellow, blue and others. Color derives from the spectrum of light interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors...
word that includes what English-speakers would call
blueBlue is a colour, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 440–490 nm. It is considered one of the additive primary colours. On the HSV Colour Wheel, the complement of blue is yellow; that is, a colour corresponding to an equal...
and
greenGreen is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometres. In the subtractive color system, it is not a primary color, but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue, or yellow and cyan; it is considered...
. For example, in Japan, green traffic lights are described as , and blue skies are described as , as in
aozora bunkoAozora Bunko Aozora Bunko Aozora Bunko , is a Japanese digital library. This on-line collection encompasses several thousands of works of Japanese-language fiction and non-fiction...
.
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 periodThe is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. The period is named after the capital city of Heian-kyō, or modern Kyoto. It is the period in Japanese history when Buddhism, Confucianism and other Chinese influences were at their height...
, 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 after
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, during the Occupation: thus, even though most Japanese consider them to be green, the word ao is still used to describe certain
vegetableA vegetable is an edible plant or part of a plant. However, the word is not scientific, and its meaning is largely based on culinary and cultural tradition. Therefore the application of the word is somewhat arbitrary and subjective. For example, some people consider mushrooms to be vegetables,...
s,
appleThe apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family Rosaceae. It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits...
s and
vegetationVegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region; it refers to the ground cover provided by plants. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characteristics. It is broader...
. Ao is also the name for the color of a traffic light, "green" in English. However, most other objects—a green car, a green
sweaterA sweater, jumper, pullover, sweatshirt, jersey or guernsey is a garment intended to cover the torso and arms. They are usually worn over a shirt, blouse, T-shirt, or other top. Sweaters tend to be, and in earlier times always were, made from wool; however, they can be made of cotton, synthetic...
, 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 YamaguchiMomoe Yamaguchi , is a Japanese singer, actress, and idol whose career lasted from 1972 to 1980. In that time, she became one of the most notable singers in Japanese music, and an acclaimed actress...
, a meaning that stems from the on'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 .
The word
aoi can also mean a
hollyhockThe hollyhocks comprise about 60 species of flowering plants in the genus Alcea in the mallow family Malvaceae, native to southwest and central Asia...
. In writing, this form of "aoi" appears in Japanese as
hiraganais a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora...
あおい , or あふひ in
historical kana usageThe , or , refers to the in general use until orthographic reforms after World War II; the current orthography was adopted by Cabinet order in 1946. By that point it was no longer in accord with Japanese pronunciation...
, and
kanjiare the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet . The Japanese term kanji literally means "Han characters".- History :Chinese characters first came to Japan on...
葵.
Ao also appears in the name of
Aomori Prefectureis a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku Region. The capital is the city of Aomori.- History :The Aomori Prefecture came into existence in 1871. Aomori Town was established in 1889. The town was incorporated as a city in 1898 with a population of 28,000....
.