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It is sometimes the case that one attributes a second meaning to the colors, in poetry or just slang. It might be that this association is language-dependent (perhaps an exception is a connotation of "green" as environmentally friendly). Please provide an example, and if possible, the reason for this association.

What are the most common meanings attributed to colors in Russian?

c.p.
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  • this is an immense topic, and these relations depend not so much on nationality as on individuality and other things:> Well, black is the color of mourning, white is the color of a wedding ... Red is the color of the Reds, white is the color of Whites, "Green" is the color of those simply brigands ..:> or mb black :> https://youtu.be/e0ECy37ayUw?t=1745 A lot of things we can write here ...:> –  Пилум Nov 11 '21 at 17:24
  • https://blog.cognifit.com/ru/психология-цвета-значение-цвета/
    https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Язык_цветов#Символика
    https://f-gl.ru/геральдический-глоссарий/цвета-в-геральдике
    etc... "But this is not precisely"(c) :>>     –  Пилум Nov 11 '21 at 18:10
  • https://mgimo.ru/upload/iblock/df6/df66b41e6f203f67692e719e14f8239e.pdf –  Пилум Nov 11 '21 at 18:58

5 Answers5

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Well, let me try:

  • Серый — boring, mediocre; semi-legal ("серый рынок").
  • Красный — (obsolete, but fully understandable nowadays by any native speaker), beautiful: "Красная площадь", "красна девица". Moreover, historically it is its first, original meaning, only later on did it become a color indication, displacing червонный/червлённый; may also mean strong or exaggerated as in "красное словцо".
  • Голубой — male homosexual ("голубая" for lesbian is inappropriate); relaxed in "голубые грёзы"/"голубая нега" (something close to dolce far niente); (rapidly becoming historical) television in phrase "голубой экран"; (historical, not understandable nowadays) gendarmes, police in tzarist Russia, in phrase "голубые штаны", check out also гороховое пальто.
  • Розовый — in phrases like "жизнь в розовых тонах" or "смотреть на мир сквозь розовые очки" means rose-colored, (unduly) optimistic. Розовая sometimes is used for indicating lesbianism, but, compared to голубой is used much more rarer.
  • Зелёный — greenhorn ("ты ещё зелёный совсем, куда тебе"); environment-friendly, ecologic ("зелёные технологии"); apathy, cheerless as in "тоска зелёная (drowsy boredoom, depression)". One can also turn green from anger ("позеленеть от злости"). In the late Soviet time, the American dollars were called "зелень" (green stuff) or just "зеленые". "Зелёнка" in military slang means woodland or dense thickets (in everyday use just Brilliant Green dye).
  • Белый — (noun) I hate to say it, but it is heroin; legal ("белый рынок", "белая зарплата"); "белая ворона" ironically, this can be translated as "black sheep". "Белая зависть" (white envy) means that you are glad for someone, but also regret that you aren't like him/her, as opposed to "черная зависть" (black envy) when you are angry that the other person has something that you don't.
  • Чёрный — illegal ("чёрный рынок"); villainous ("чёрное дело ты задумал"); dreary ("на душе черным-черно").
  • Жёлтый — in the phrase "жёлтая пресса", which is a calque of "yellow press"; there is also derivative adjective "желтушный" and noun "желтуха" ("Вся эта статья — чистая желтуха"). In the phrase "желторотый птенец", it means a very unexperienced person.
  • Фиолетово (as an adverb, not an adjective) — used to indicate indifference: "Мне это абсолютно фиолетово".
  • Побагроветь (verb, derivative from "багровый") — to get furious, to get pissed off ("Валерий Петрович побагровел от возмущения"). Cf. also сделаться белым.
  • Серо-буро-малиновый — colloquial description of a color that is hard to determine or that is a result of a strange medley of hues.

Political (ability to understand these depending on one's education and conversation context, although красные and белые are much more recognizable than others):

  • Красные — communists.
  • Белые — the White movement.
  • Коричневые — fascists.

Also, an edit has been suggested to incorporate into this list the phrase малиновый звон, but be warned, this has nothing to do with the color малиновый. Much rather, this is a phonetical coincidence, much like Китай-город is by no means related to China.

Sasha
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shabunc
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  • does "Красная пресса" mean the press that focuses on delictive acts? (sorry if unrelated, but in my language it does) 2) why does blue mean homosexual and brown, fascist?
    • – c.p. Oct 31 '12 at 18:40
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    "красная пресса" most probably means communist (or wider - leftist) press. As for reasons, this link can help you - http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Красно-коричневые – shabunc Oct 31 '12 at 18:42
  • @JorgeCampos as for gay, I guess it is pretty simple - blue is boys color. – shabunc Oct 31 '12 at 18:46
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    @Jorge Campos no, "red press" in Russian can only mean Communist press. – Anixx Nov 01 '12 at 00:30
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    Regarding brown, that is because the Nazi SA wore brown shirts in the 1930s. – Anixx Nov 01 '12 at 00:33
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    I disagree about brown. I think it has no fashism connotations. The majority of people even don't know that it has been used as the uniform color in the 3rd Reich, I believe. – Olga Nov 01 '12 at 09:53
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    Also, "green" may mean "boring", as in тоска зеленая. – Olga Nov 01 '12 at 09:54
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    Also, "красное словцо" is not curse, it is exaggeration or joke. – Olga Nov 01 '12 at 09:55
  • @Olga, "после серых всегда приходят коричневые" is relatively well-know phrase, in political slang it is pretty common. – shabunc Nov 01 '12 at 11:16
  • а можно использовать Зелeный так? зеленая книжка или ,,как зелено"=какая скучно ? – c.p. Nov 02 '12 at 18:24
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    @Olga there is special kind of political associations with colors. Reds=communists, whites=anti-communists, greens=islamists or ecologists or bandits in Russian civil war, oranges=pro-US revolutionaries. These associations are not hard-coded and can change depending on the context. – Anixx Nov 03 '12 at 02:01
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    @Jorge Campos "зеленая книга" may either mean Quaran or the opus magnus of the former Libyan leader Muammar Kaddafi or something like this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Book_%28chemistry%29 – Anixx Nov 03 '12 at 02:05
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    @JorgeCampos, no - "тоска зелёная" is strongly idiomatic, and in any other phrase green won't be associated with boredom. – shabunc Nov 03 '12 at 08:36
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    красный/белый/зеленый were used to mark sides in Russian Civil War. Белый marks white race, Черный may mark either negroid race or modern inhabitants of Caucasus. 'Чёрный' often means illegal, like 'черный нал'(черная наличка), 'черный рынок'. – permeakra Nov 03 '12 at 16:40
  • @Anixx About politics: but this meaning of the colors is not specific for Russian. – Olga Nov 05 '12 at 08:21
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    @Olga, you are wrong, if it is not specific (i.e. used not only in Russian), it does not mean that it is not a part of Russian language. "Зелёный" for indicating juvenile is not specific to Russian, though it is Russian. – shabunc Nov 05 '12 at 10:07
  • @shabunc let's go to chat. http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/6334/on-the-meaning-of-the-colors – Olga Nov 05 '12 at 10:12
  • What about phrase: "ты что, красный что-ли"? :-) – KindDragon Nov 15 '12 at 20:53
  • Another word that looks like the name of a colour but can have nothing to do with the colour (like малиновый in малиновый звон) is Серый. It's when it is used as one of the familiar forms of the name Сергей. – Andriy M Nov 24 '12 at 17:48
  • "Olga about brown. I think it has no fashism connotations." - of course, it is. Absolutely. But of course all these things are context-sensitive and individually. :> the immense and stupid question, really. Many things here can be arqued and impugnable. –  Пилум Nov 11 '21 at 17:29
  • c.p, " why does ... and brown, fascist? – " - it's, firstly, historical thing. They (in NSDAP and their terrorists) weared brown shirts, they liked it, it was be their choise. https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Штурмовые_отряды ; And they was named also "коричнерубашечники, коричневорубашечники". Also in Italy were approximated https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Чернорубашечники;

    https://youtu.be/i-2FoCchImc - but the real color of IT more similar to a child shit :> ("цвет детской неожиданности", the our idiom. :>). It's also good vivid mental relation and assotiation about IT-a shit. :>

     –  Пилум Nov 11 '21 at 17:43
  • And, next, this color was fixed historically and politically to the fascists-at-all. It's already settled. In this - context. :> –  Пилум Nov 11 '21 at 17:43
  • "firstly, historical thing. " - and - the international. Thing. :> –  Пилум Nov 11 '21 at 17:45
  • "greens=islamists or ecologists or bandits" - Anixx ? "ecologists in Civil War" ? :))))))))))))) Just a bandits... :> Oh, i suppose - you just mixed any different contexts... for islamists in Civil War (and for islamists at all) nobody say "green", just a bandit-basmuch... –  Пилум Nov 11 '21 at 17:49
  • shabunc, ""после серых всегда приходят коричневые" is relatively well-know phrase, in political slang it is pretty common" - this quote from the Strugatskys is correct - politically, but not linguistically-literary literally; "После серых всегда приходят чёрные". But considering what i said above that чернорубашечники and коричневорубашечники are one and the same, the meaning is the same:> –  Пилум Nov 11 '21 at 17:56
  • c.p. " можно использовать Зелeный так? зеленая книжка или ,,как зелено"=какая скучно ? " - hah... :))) No, in general... :>> "Зеленая книжечка генерала Бризака" :>>as the quotation... You may read "Bayazet" by Picul :) http://loveread.ec/view_global.php?id=15149 –  Пилум Nov 11 '21 at 18:21
  • Also is "зелено вино" as archaic idiom, and "зеленый змий" - about alcohol :) exactly archaic "змИй", not a "змей" :) https://youtu.be/odo6MTWmERs?t=50 –  Пилум Nov 11 '21 at 18:30
  • "зеленые человечки" - about extraterrestrials. Or about alcoholic hallucinations, like as "допиться до чертиков". Зеленых. :> https://youtu.be/m0Cf-9TyAe0

    "Красная Книга" - international name of list of dying animal species... and you can meet this in conversations, as a metaphor... about smth/smbd rare and/or unfortunate - "их в красную книгу заносить пора"... :>

     –  Пилум Nov 11 '21 at 18:52