青い（あおい、aoi）
- blue

The Japanese word 青い (あおい) means "blue". It describes the color blue, like the sky on a clear day or the ocean. 青い can also be used figuratively to describe something that is pale or unripe, especially in the context of fruit or feelings. It is an adjective that describes the color or quality of something.

⚫︎空は青いです。 Translation: The sky is blue. ⚫︎青い海で泳ぎました。 Translation: I swam in the blue ocean. ⚫︎あのリンゴはまだ青いね。 Translation: That apple is still green (unripe).

You use 青い when you want to describe something as being the color blue. It is a type of "i-adjective," meaning it conjugates like other i-adjectives. You can use it in various situations to describe the color of objects, nature, or even abstract concepts in some cases.

⚫︎The word is typically written with the kanji 青 and the hiragana い: 青い. ⚫︎The hiragana reading is あおい. ⚫︎There are no other common ways to write this word. ⚫︎The okurigana (the suffix hiragana) is always い.

⚫︎While there aren't direct synonyms that mean exactly "blue" in Japanese, you might use other words to describe shades or related concepts: ⚫︎藍色 (あいいろ) - indigo (a deeper blue) ⚫︎水色 (みずいろ) - light blue (literally "water color")

⚫︎The direct antonym depends on the context, but the basic antonyms are colors that are obviously not blue. ⚫︎赤い (あかい) - red ⚫︎白い (しろい) - white ⚫︎黒い (くろい) - black

今日、青いシャツを着ています。 ・Translation: I am wearing a blue shirt today. ・Explanation: This sentence uses 青い to describe the color of a shirt.

彼女の目はとても青い。 ・Translation: Her eyes are very blue. ・Explanation: This sentence describes the color of someone's eyes using 青い.

The etymology of 青い is not definitively known, but it's believed to have originated from the ancient Japanese language. The kanji 青 originally represented colors like blue and green. The suffix い is a characteristic of i-adjectives, which modify nouns.