茶色(ちゃいろ)い

ちゃいろい
i-adjective
brown
color
Conjugation
AffirmativeNegative
Present茶色(ちゃいろ)い茶色(ちゃいろ)くない
Past茶色(ちゃいろ)かった茶色(ちゃいろ)くなかった
て form茶色(ちゃいろ)くて茶色(ちゃいろ)くなくて
Adverbial茶色(ちゃいろ)く—
Conditional ば茶色(ちゃいろ)ければ茶色(ちゃいろ)くなければ
Conditional たら茶色(ちゃいろ)かったら茶色(ちゃいろ)くなかったら
1. brown
Describes the color brown. The word literally contains 茶(ちゃ) (tea), referring to the brown color of tea.
茶色(ちゃいろ)い犬(いぬ)がいる。
There's a brown dog.
茶色(ちゃいろ)い靴(くつ)がほしい。
I want brown shoes.
葉(は)っぱが茶色(ちゃいろ)くなりました。
The leaves have turned brown.
Adverbial form showing change
茶色(ちゃいろ)い目(め)の女(おんな)の子(こ)が笑(わら)っています。
A girl with brown eyes is smiling.
秋(あき)になると、木(き)の葉(は)が赤(あか)や黄色(きいろ)や茶色(ちゃいろ)に変(か)わって、とてもきれいです。
In autumn, the tree leaves turn red, yellow, and brown, which is very beautiful.

茶色(ちゃいろ)い is an i-adjective meaning "brown," literally "tea-colored."

Usage

茶色(ちゃいろ)い is the i-adjective form, but the noun 茶色(ちゃいろ) (used as 茶色(ちゃいろ)の + noun) is equally common: 茶色(ちゃいろ)い髪(かみ) and 茶色(ちゃいろ)の髪(かみ) are both natural.

Forms

RELATED WORDS (color adjectives):

Common collocations

Cultural note

Brown (茶色(ちゃいろ)) is valued in traditional Japanese aesthetics as a natural, earthy tone.

Related Words

Related: 茶色(ちゃいろ) (brown (noun form))
Related: 黄色(きいろ)い (yellow (the other 〜色い colour adjective))
Related: 赤(あか)い (red)
Related: 青(あお)い (blue)
Related: 白(しろ)い (white)
Related: 黒(くろ)い (black)
basic
Added 2026.1.7 21:09 · Revised 2026.10.8 15:23
00500/00922_chairoi