青

#青 is listed under the radical of 靑, which is the old form of this character 青. My dictionary lists many theories how this kanji was formed, but none of them makes much sense to me….

It’s easier to remember ”trying to stab 3 （三）pancakes with a stick （｜） on the moon （月）”!

Today’s Kanji is 青, which means “blue” in general but 青 has a bit wider meaning in Japanese.

It can be read as セイ、ショウ（ジョウ）、あお

青果（セイカ）: vegetables and fruits
青春（セイシュン）: youth, the springtime of life
青年（セイネン）: a youth, young people
青銅（セイドウ）: bronze
丹青（タンセイ）: red and blue

緑青（ロクショウ）: copper rust, verdigris
群青（グンジョウ）: ultramarine, azure

青（あお）: blue (noun), green
青（あお）い: blue (i-adj), green, pale, immature
青（あお）二才（ニサイ）: an immature youth

A bit more about the nuance

青あお/青あおい has meanings of “green,” “pale” or “immature” on top of “blue” in Japanese.

• ジョンさんは青あおい顔かおをしていた。John looked pale.
• ホウレン草ソウとか青あおいものも食たべなさい. You should also eat some greens such as spinach.
• 青あおりんご – a green apple
• 青あおいりんご – an unripe apple

If we write もみじ, maple, in Kanji, we write it as 紅葉. The first kanji 紅 when read as くれない is a colour “red” or “crimson” while it can be read as べに as in 口紅くちべに (rouge, a lipstick) or 頬紅ほおべに (blusher). 葉 means a leaf, leaves. Thus もみじ, maple, literally means “red leaves.” So when the maple leaves are in their original colour “green,” they describe them as 青もみじ, green maple leaves.

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