- Forum >
- Topic: German >
- The color pink
The color pink
In the Duo exercise for colors you learn that the German word for pink is Pink. I never heard a German use that word. I think the word Rosa is more popular or am I crazy?
7 Comments
the word pink is used a lot in germany actually.
rosa and pink are not exactly the same either.
https://praxistipps.focus.de/unterschied-pink-und-rosa-eine-erklaerung_101088
Interesting. I personally have never heard a native German speaker, either in Germany or Austria, call something pink." The link you provided does make it sound like it's a recent addition, and clearly it's an Anglizismus. Personally, I will probably continue to use rosa for pink. In the same way that the English red is used as a general term for a whole spectrum of reddish shades that do have their own specific names, I continue to think of rosa as a general term for pinkish shades, even though those shades might have their own technical names.
I guess the frequency of usage depends on fashion. A couple of years ago when neon was fashionable, you could read/hear "pink" a lot. At the moment it's not so common.
I like the two words. The difference between their meaning is "lautmalerisch": "pink" is in-your-face and "rosa" is soft and fluffy.
I wonder: do female speakers use a wider variety of colour descriptions than men? I've never heard a man say "fliederfarben", "abricot", "mintgrün", or "petrol" unless he was a designer.