Green and Blue
Vocabulary · one world map for each value
WALS codes 120 languages for this feature. The most frequent value, “Green-or-blue ('grue')”, covers 68 of them (57%); the least frequent, “Yellow-or-green and blue”, is recorded for a single language.
That value is most frequent in South America (78% of the 32 languages coded there) and least frequent in Africa (19% of 16).
Among families with at least eight coded languages, Niger-Congo is the most uniform: 9 of 12 have “Black-or-green-or-blue”.
Indo-European is the most divided, its largest group reaching only 6 of 10.
Green and blue30 languages · 25%
Green-or-blue ('grue')68 languages · 57%
Black-or-green-or-blue15 languages · 12%
Black-or-blue and green2 languages · 2%
Yellow-or-green-or-blue2 languages · 2%
Yellow-or-green and blue1 language · 1%
Green and blue not both encoded in any basic color term2 languages · 2%
One map per value; each dot is a language WALS codes with that value.
By macro-area
| Value | Africa | Eurasia | Papunesia | Australia | North America | South America |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Green and blue | 2 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 4 |
| Green-or-blue ('grue') | 3 | 5 | 17 | 1 | 17 | 25 |
| Black-or-green-or-blue | 10 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Black-or-blue and green | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Yellow-or-green-or-blue | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Yellow-or-green and blue | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Green and blue not both encoded in any basic color term | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| All values | 16 | 15 | 24 | 5 | 28 | 32 |
Inside the largest families
| Family | Coded | Most frequent value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Niger-Congo | 12 | Black-or-green-or-blue | 75% |
| Indo-European | 10 | Green and blue | 60% |
| Trans-New Guinea | 8 | Green-or-blue ('grue') | 75% |
Languages to explore
The most fully coded languages with each value.
- Green and blue: English, French, Russian, Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese
- Green-or-blue ('grue'): Pirahã, Shipibo-Konibo, Chinantec (Lealao), Cahuilla, Murle, O'odham
- Black-or-green-or-blue: Campa (Axininca)
- Yellow-or-green-or-blue: Lele
- Green and blue not both encoded in any basic color term: Kuku-Yalanji, Murrinh-Patha