Hijau / Kuning
Green / Yellow
'Hijau' rhymes with 'meadow' roughly. Indonesia's lush rice terraces are the most famous 'hijau' you'll see!
Learn the colors "Hijau" (Green) and "Kuning" (Yellow) in Indonesian. These Bahasa Indonesia color words connect to Indonesia's lush landscapes, tropical produce, and the vivid palette of traditional Indonesian culture.
💬Example Sentences
Sawah yang hijau sangat indah!
The green rice fields are so beautiful!
Saya mau baju kuning itu.
I want that yellow shirt.
Ada pilihan warna hijau?
Do you have it in green?
🏭Cultural Context
Green is inescapable in Indonesia — the word "hijau" evokes the stunning terraced rice fields of Bali, the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra, and the tropical vegetation that covers most of the archipelago. "Hijau" also has symbolic meaning: in Islamic tradition (followed by about 87% of Indonesians), green is a sacred color, which is why you'll see green prominently in mosques and Islamic celebrations. Yellow (kuning) is the color of royalty and divinity in many Indonesian royal cultures — the Javanese Sultanate of Yogyakarta uses gold-yellow as its primary royal color. In Bali, yellow offerings wrapped in banana leaves are central to Hindu ceremonies. Colors carry deep cultural weight in this symbolically rich nation.