Know Your Colours in the Samoan Language

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The Samoan word for colour is lanu.

When we refer to each colour in Samoan, we say the word lanu first and then add its description. For example, lanumūmū is the Samoan word for red.

Why does mūmū describe red?

We’ll discuss that in a minute, but first, let’s look at other colours in Samoan.

The Samoan Names for Popular Colours

The Samoan language is still relatively limited. We don’t have words for every colour you can imagine, but we have enough to cover the most popular colour needs.

lanumūmū
red
lanumoana
blue
lanumeamata
green
lanumoli
orange
lanusamasama
yellow
lanuviolē
purple
lanupīniki
pink
lanu’ena’ena
brown
lanu’efu’efu
grey
lanupa’epa’e
white
lanuūliuli
black

How Colours are Named in Samoan

Why do we care how colours are named in Samoan?

Aside from the fact that word geeks are cool, the Samoan names for some colours give us clues for how to use our colour words correctly.

And now that I’ve got you all keen to learn where the Samoan words for different colours come from, here’s my disclaimer:

I don’t know.

Not for all of them… and actually, not many Samoans know the origins of all our colour names, but we know – or we can pretty much guess – where many of them came from .

lanumoana | blue
moana = the ocean; blue is the color of the ocean
lanumeamata | green
meamata = (literally) unripe things; green is the (usually) the colour of unripe fruit
lanumoli | orange
moli = orange (the fruit)
lanuviolē | purple
violē = violet (the flower)

Notice that a few of the colours from our first list at the beginning of this lesson are missing from the list above.

That’s because, for these colours: lanusamasama (yellow), lanu’efu’efu (grey), lanu’ena’ena (brown), and lanupa’epa’e (white)… I can’t tell from the word what its origins are.

That is, the words samasama, ‘efu’efu, ‘ena’ena and pa’epa’e don’t have any other everyday meaning in Samoan – not that we are familiar with anymore, anyway.

The other three missing colours are lanupīniki (pink) and lanuuliuli (black). Piniki obviously comes from the English word, pink, and doesn’t have another meaning in Samoan either, and both uliuli and mūmū only ever refer to colours as well.

Do you see a pattern here?

For some of our Samoan colour names, the colour part of the word have other common meanings in Samoan, and for other colour names, they don’t.

Saying ‘Lanu’ or Not

Now that you know how these colours are named in Samoan, you should understand this next rule about referring to colours in Samoan.

It’s always appropriate to say lanu at the beginning of a colour word, but for the colours that do not have another common meaning in Samoan (other than a colour), it’s okay to omit the lanu part.

So, it’s perfectly fine to refer to yellow as samasama only, or white as pa’epa’e.

As for the other colour words – the ones like meamata and moana that could easily be confused with other everyday meanings in Samoan – we always include the lanu part when we’re referring to a colour.

Does that make sense? I hope so… because I see this little Samoan grammar error a lot, especially online.

To help you remember this rule, let’s look at some examples of these Samoan colour words in action.

Aumai le ipu pa’epa’e.
Bring the white cup.
E lanumoana mata a le pepe.
The baby’s eyes are blue.
Na ou fa’atau le ta’avale mūmū.
I bought the red car.
Ese lo’u fiafia i le lanumeamata.
I really like the colour green.
E lanumoli le moli.
The orange is orange.
E pa’epa’e lo’u fale.
My house is white.

Don’t forget: even if you can use a colour word without including the lanu part, it is always appropriate and acceptable to include lanu in all the colours.

So, even if uliuli is perfectly okay to say without lanu, lanuuliuli is also perfectly okay.

Your Turn

What are your three favourite colours? Practice answering that question in Samoan. You can use this sentence prompt:

O lanu e sili ou te fiafia i ai o , ma . | The colours I like the best are , and .

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