Colourful Idioms from around the World

We use colourful idioms in the English language more than we might realise – we tell white lies, remember red letter days and sometimes we get the blues. But what colourful idioms are there in other languages? We’ve put together a list of some of our favourites to add a splash of colour to your day!

Blue

In English something can be out of the blue, a bolt from the blue or can happen once in a blue moon! But did you know that being blue in German means that you’re drunk? Here are a few more blue idioms from other languages…

Language	Idiom	Literal Translation	Meaning
French	Ne voir qu’en bleu	To see nothing but blue	To be in the dark/uninformed
Italian	Il principe azzurro	The blue prince	Prince Charming
German	Das Blaue vom Himmer herunterlügen	To lie the blue out of the sky	To lie a lot
Dutch	Een blauwtje lopen	To walk a blue	To be rejected
Swedish	Att skita i det blå skåpet	To shit in the blue cabinet	To go too far/to make a fool of oneself
Polish	Myśleć o niebieskich migdałach	To think about blue almonds	To daydream

Green

English speakers can give the green light for something to go ahead, think the grass is greener on the other side and may at times turn green with envy! But green can symbolise different emotions in other languages…

French	C’est la fin des haricots verts	It’s the end of the green beans	It’s the final straw
Spanish	Me sacas canas verdes	You’re giving me green hairs	You’re annoying me
Italian	Far vedere i sorci verdi a qualcuno	To make someone see green mice	To threaten someone
German	Ach du grüne Neune!	Ah you green nine!	Good grief!
German	Noch grün hinter den Ohren sein	To still be green behind the ears	To be inexperienced
Polish	Posłać na zieloną trawkę	To send onto green grass	To fire from work
Mandarin Chinese	戴綠帽	He wears a green hat	His wife is cheating on him

White

We tell white lies in English, wave the white flag to admit defeat and seeing something scary can turn us as white as a sheet! Did you know that in lots of languages having a ‘white’ night refers to a night where you get no sleep? Here are some other idioms that are as white as snow…

French	Faire chou blanc	To make white cabbage	To draw a blank, to fail despite trying your best
Spanish	Un mirlo blanco	A white blackbird	Something that is rare
Italian	Matrimonio in bianco	White marriage	An unconsummated marriage
German	Eine weiße Maus sehen	To see a white mouse	To hallucinate
Romanian	Noapte albă	White night	Sleepless night
Swedish	Vit vecka	White week	A week without any alcohol
Tagalog	Maputi ang tainga	White-eared	Stingy

Black

Black idioms often refer to something negative in English, like a black eye, blacking out or the black market, and this is often the case in other languages too…

Spanish	Tener las entrañas negras	To have black guts	To be a bad person
German	Jemandem den schwarzen Peter zuschieben	To pass the black Peter to someone	To pass the buck
Dutch	Op zwart zaad zitten	To sit on black seed	To be really broke
Finnish	Mustasukkainen	Black-socked	Jealous
Russian	между ними пробежала черная кошка	A black cat ran between them	They are at an impasse

Pink

We might be tickled pink or see pink elephants in English, but what about other languages?

Romanian	A se face roşu de mînic	To turn pink with rage	To become angry
Portuguese	Revistas cor-de-rosa	Pink magazines	Celebrity/gossip magazines
Dutch	Op een roze wolkje zitten	To sit on a little pink cloud	To be (annoyingly) in love
Turkish	Pembe yalan	A pink lie	A white/good lie

Can you think of any other colourful idioms? We’d love to hear them!

Source

https://thecolorlanguageproject.wordpress.com/2016/07/24/the-cross-language-color-idioms-list/