Colors

There is no Klingon word in the sense of "red is a nice color"(1). If you want to ask "What color is that?", say chay' nguv?

During qep'a' 26, in July 2019, a word for "color" was revealed, but it means "color (in general)". See ➞ qalmuS

Different shades

There are four basic verbs for colors:(2)

Klingon	translation
Doq	be orange, be red
SuD	be green, be blue, be yellow
qIj	be black
chIS	be white

Different colors can be intensified by adding the rover-suffix qu'- ("very") or by distinguishing colors in wov (bright) and Hurgh ("dark"). One may replace the 'ej and by 'ach but .

Color	Klingon	Translation	literally	Source
	SuD	blue	just SuD	TKD
	SuD 'ej Hurgh	dark blue	SuD and dark	TalkNow
	SuDqu' 'ej Hurgh	dark green to blue	very SuD and dark	NOT CANON
	SuDqu'	"would probably be described as green"	very SuD	KGT, p. 82
	SuDqu' 'ej wov	pale green to yellow	very SuD and bright	NOT CANON
	SuD 'ej wov	"a way to refer to a yellowish tinge"; blonde	SuD and bright	KGT, p. 82
	SuD 'ej wov	light blue	SuD and bright	TalkNow
	Doq 'ej wov	red to orange	Doq and bright	NOT CANON
	Doq	orange/red	just Doq	TKD
	Doqqu' 'ej wov	pink	very Doq and bright	TalkNow
	Doqqu'	"a color more red than orange"	very Doq	KGT, p. 82
	Doqqu' 'ej Hurgh	darkred	very Doq and dark	NOT CANON
	Doq 'ej Hurgh	darkred to brown	Doq and dark	NOT CANON
	Doq 'ej wovbe'	brown	Doq and not bright	HolQeD 8:1 p. 7, stk 02/21/1998
	qIj	black	black	TKD
	qIj 'ej wov	grey	black and bright	TalkNow

Please note that the displayed colors are only for visual reference and do not represent canon definitions.

Color scale

A gradient color scale has been designed by Roger Cheesbro many years ago, before the additional shadings had become canon:

Colors with similes

Besides that, colors can be named by using similes:

Doq 'ej Qaj wuS rur It is Doq like kradge-lips. (a brownish tone) (3)

Doq 'ej beqpuj rur It is Doq and resembles bekpuj (an orange mineral) (4)

Related terms

There is a verb nguv which means "be dyed, stained, tinted". It is used in phrases like chay' nguv ("How is it tinted?") or with the -moH in the form nguvmoH ("dye, tint, stain", literally "cause to be dyed". (5)

verbs

chum	be colorful	qep'a' 2016
Dem	be clear, transparent, uncolored, colorless	qep'a' 2016
DIj	paint with a pigment stick [onto something]	KGT
Hurgh	be dark	TKD
nguv	be dyed, stained, tinted	KGT
wev	draw	The Little Prince
wov	be bright	TKD
ngoH	paint using fingers	KGT

nouns

rItlh	paint, dye	KGT
qalmuS	color (in general)	qep'a' 2019

See also

• Klingon Jokes: "Are the warriors red?"

References

1 : Klingon for the Galactic Traveler, p. 81: "First of all, there is no noun meaning color."

2 : The Klingon Dictionary

3 : startrek.klingon newsgroup message of February 21, 1998

4 , 5 : Klingon for the Galactic Traveler, p. 82