A Quick Reference to Colors in Klingon

In November 2010, with the release of Talk Now! Eurotalk Klingon we got a whole bunch of new words and expression, and with them quite a few new expressions covering colours. These new expressions have been included below.

Let’s begin with a nice color cheat sheet by Roger Cheesbro:

There is no noun in Klingon meaning “color”, but there is a verb nguv which means be dyed, stained, tinted. This word is seldom used without the suffix -moH (as in quS nguv­moH He stains the chair) except in the phrase chay’ nguv How is it tinted?. [KGT p.82]

nguv be dyed, be stained, be tinted (v) [KGT]

There are only four distinct words for different colors (including qIj black and chIS white) in Klingon. These, for the most part, are all that is used in everyday language – there is rarely any need for more, since there are almost always other ways to distinguish between several objects than just the hue.

Doq be orange, be red (v) [TKD]
SuD be green, be blue, be yellow (v) [TKD]
chIS be white (v) [TKD]
qIj be black (v) [TKD]
Hurgh be dark (v) [TKD]
wov be light, be bright (v) [TKD]

One way of being more specific is to use the -qu’ emphatic suffix, this has the advantage that the word still can be used adjectivally (as in for example HIq Doq­qu’ red liquor – probably bloodwine) this can not be done with the other lengthier methods of describing colors.

Expressing colors with the -qu’ emphatic suffix
Doq­qu’ “a color more red than orange” (v) [KGT p.82]
SuDqu’ “would probably be described as ‘green’ ” (v) [KGT p.82]

One may also use the words for light and dark to describe colors in whole sentences (such as SuD ’ej wov for it is SuD and light – ’ach but is also heard instead of ’ej). To describe yellow tea, a sentence like SuD­bogh Dargh ’ej wov­bogh SuD The tea that is SuD and light would be used.

Expressing colors with wov be light, bright and Hurgh be dark
SuD ’ej wov or SuD ’ach wov “a way to refer to a yellowish tinge” [KGT p.82]
light blue [Eurotalk]
Doq ’ej wov­be’ brown [HQ8:1 p.7; Eurotalk]
Doq ’ej wov or Doq ’ach wov light red or orange color NOT CANON
SuD ’ej Hurgh or SuD ’ach Hurgh dark blue Eurotalk
Doq ’ej Hurgh or Doq ’ach Hurgh brown or brownish color NOT CANON
Doq­qu’ ’ej wov or Doq­qu’ ’ach wov pink Eurotalk
SuD­qu’ ’ej wov or SuD­qu’ ’ach wov light green color NOT CANON
SuD­qu’ ’ej Hurgh or SuD­qu’ ’ach Hurgh dark green color NOT CANON
Doq­qu’ ’ej Hurgh or Doq­qu’ ’ach Hurgh dark red color NOT CANON
qIj ’ej wov or qIj ’ach wov gray Eurotalk

The color violet, or purple, is not actually a Klingon color. Klingon for the Galactic Traveler has the following to say on the subject: “The fact that neither SuD nor Doq includes what is called ‘violet’ or ‘purple’ in Federation Standard may be related to Klingon physiology—that is, exactly how the Klingon eye processes different wavelengths of light.” [KGT pp.82–83] However this color was still included in the Eurotalk language course which had a decidedly Earth-centric view (including names of several Terran countries for example).

Klingon does really not have a name for “violet” or “purple”. [KGT p.82]
A non-Klingon color
Doq ’ej SuD purple Eurotalk

Generally, when one needs to be more specific, the item in question is compared to something else that typically has this color. Here is a table of such expressions given to us in canon.

Expressing colors with similies
Doq ’ej beq­puj rur be Doq and resemble bekpuj
(a common mineral that is bright orange) 		[KGT p.82]
Doq ’ej Qaj wuS rur be Doq and resemble kradge lips
(lips of the kradge are a particular shade of brown) 		[HQ8:1 p.7]

If you want to know more about how colors are expressed in different languages, and how this relate to Klingon, read the article “Klingon Colours” by Nick Nicholas, published in Klingon Language Institute’s quarterly journal Hol­QeD 5:2 (). The further explanation of the color brown can also be found in Hol­QeD 8:1 () in an article named “Maltz Online”.

HolQeD may be purchased from The Klingon Language Institute and is available at their website www.kli.org.