kulay

Tagalog

Alternative forms

• colay, culay — obsolete, Spanish-based orthography

Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kuray (“veining pattern on wood or other material”). Compare Kapampangan kule (“color”), Maranao koray (“patterns or whorl of grains in wood”), and Malay kurai (“veining; strip-marking on kris blades”).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈkulaj/ [ˈkuː.laɪ̯]
• Rhymes: -ulaj
• Syllabification: ku‧lay

Noun

kulay (Baybayin spelling ᜃᜓᜎᜌ᜔)

1. color

   Synonym: kolor

2. (figuratively) character; nature

   Synonym: ugali

   tunay na kulay ― true character (literally, “true colours”)

3. (by extension) race; nationality

   Synonyms: lahi, lipi

4. (military) color (standard or banner)

   pagpasok ng mga kulay ― entrance of colors

5. (obsolete) multicolored lines on clothes or stones
6. (obsolete) lines on a knife
7. (obsolete) act of dividing the iron from steel

Derived terms

• awankulayin
• awankulaying paningob
• damkulayin
• duhangkulayin
• ipangkulay
• kakulay
• kulay-abo
• kulay-apoy
• kulay-dayap
• kulay-dugo
• kulay-gatas
• kulay-langit
• kulay-lumot
• kulay-pilak
• kulay-pulot
• kulay-talong
• kulay-tayom
• kulayan
• kulayin
• kulaying baltik
• kulaylawas
• kulayputol
• kulaysukat
• kumulay
• magkapunong kulay
• magkulay
• makulay
• maykulay
• pagkulay
• pangkulay
• pangulay
• pangunahing kulay
• sangkulayin

 

See also

• walna

Further reading

• “kulay”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018
• San Buena Ventura, Fr. Pedro de (1613) Juan de Silva, editor, Vocabulario de lengua tagala: El romance castellano puesto primero‎^[1], La Noble Villa de Pila, page 513: “Raya) Colay (pp) en el cuchillo la junta del hierro y açero”
• Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen; et al. (2023) “*kuray”, in the CLDF dataset from The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (2010–), →DOI