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 concerning colours. These new expressions have been included below.

Let’s begin with this 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? (The usual way of asking what color something is.) [KGT p.82]

Klingon	English	Source
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 than hue to distinguish between objects.

The Klingon basic color words.

Klingon	English	Source
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) this can not be done with the other lengthier methods of describing colors.

Expressing colors with the -qu’ emphatic suffix.

Klingon	English	Source
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 The tea that is SuD and light would be used.

Expressing colors using wov be light, bright and Hurgh be dark.

Klingon	English	Source
SuD ’ej wov or SuD ’ach wov	“a yellowish tinge”	[KGT p.82]
SuD ’ej wov or SuD ’ach wov	light blue	[Eurotalk]
Doq ’ej wov­be’	brown	[HQ8:1 p.7; Eurotalk]
Doq ’ej wov or Doq ’ach wov	light red or orange	NON-CANON
SuD ’ej Hurgh or SuD ’ach Hurgh	dark blue	[Eurotalk]
Doq ’ej Hurgh or Doq ’ach Hurgh	brown or brownish	NON-CANON
Doq­qu’ ’ej wov or Doq­qu’ ’ach wov	pink	[Eurotalk]
SuD­qu’ ’ej wov or SuD­qu’ ’ach wov	light green	NON-CANON
SuD­qu’ ’ej Hurgh or SuD­qu’ ’ach Hurgh	dark green	NON-CANON
Doq­qu’ ’ej Hurgh or Doq­qu’ ’ach Hurgh	dark red	NON-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]

Irregardless of this, the color purple was still included in the Eurotalk language course (which had a decidedly Earth-centric view, e.g. including names of several Terran countries for example):

A non-Klingon color. Klingons probably cannot perceive the “violet” or “purple”. [KGT p.82; Eurotalk]

Klingon	English	Source
Doq ’ej SuD	violet or 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.

Klingon	English	Source
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 (June 1996). The further explanation of the color brown can also be found in Hol­QeD 8:1 (March 1999) in an article called “Maltz Online”.

Hol­QeD may be purchased from The Klingon Language Institute.