ねずみ色いろ

ね

ず

み

い

ろ

Meanings

1

noun, noun which may take the genitive case particle 'no'

dark gray; slate gray

A gray color like that of a mouse or rat; a common color term in everyday Japanese.

彼かれはねずみ色いろのスーツを着きていた。
He was wearing a dark gray suit.
空そらがねずみ色いろに曇くもってきた。
The sky has clouded over to a slate gray.

See all 8 example sentences ›

Kanji

色color
鼠rat, mouse, dark gray

Related words

ねずみN3
ねずみ色 is the full, unambiguous term for the color, while ねずみ alone is a shortened, more casual way of saying the same gray shade.
鼠ねずN1
鼠 alone cannot be used to mean the color 'gray'; ねずみ色 is the complete word you actually say or write for that shade.
灰はい色いろN3
灰色 is the general, everyday word for grey, whereas 鼠色 is a traditional, more specific term for a darker, muted grey (literally 'mouse color').
グレーN1
ねずみ色 is a traditional Japanese term for a warm, dark gray, while グレー is the modern, more neutral loanword for the color.

Written forms

ねずみ色いろUsage26%
Common kana-kanji mixed spelling; the animal name is usually written in kana.
鼠ねずみ色いろUsage66%
Kanji spelling using the character for 'mouse/rat'; less common but still seen.
ネズミ色いろUsage8%
search-only kanji form
Katakana variant of the animal part; search-only form.

Etymology

Compound of ねずみ (mouse/rat) and 色 (color), literally 'mouse color'.