1.
ultramarine; deep blue; navy blue
A vivid, deep blue color. Originally refers to the color of the pigment ultramarine, derived from the mineral lapis lazuli.
空が群青色に染まった。
The sky was stained deep blue.
群青色の海がとても美しかった。
The ultramarine sea was very beautiful.
日本画では群青色は伝統的な顔料として使われてきた。
In Japanese painting, ultramarine has been used as a traditional pigment.
A compound of 群青 (ultramarine pigment) + 色 (color). 群青 alone can also refer to the color, but adding 色 makes it explicitly a color name.
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 群青色の空: ultramarine sky
- 群青色の海: deep blue sea
- 群青色に輝く: to shine in deep blue
CULTURAL NOTE:
Ultramarine (群青) is one of the traditional Japanese colors (日本の伝統色), historically valued in Japanese painting (日本画). The pigment was originally made from the mineral 瑠璃 (lapis lazuli).
SIMILAR WORDS:
- 紺色: navy blue, dark blue — a darker, more muted blue
- 藍色: indigo — a blue derived from plant-based indigo dye
- 瑠璃色: lapis lazuli blue — similar vivid blue, named after the mineral itself