Tastes in Native Japanese words

We have five tastes - sweet, sourer, hot (spicy), salty, bitter, - plus one more "tannin taste".

sweet - ama-i (あまい、甘い)
sourer - suppa-i (すっぱい、酸っぱい)
hot (spicy) - kara-i (からい、辛い)
salty - shio-kara-i (しおからい、塩辛い) or shoppa-i (しょっぱい)
bitter - niga-i (にがい、苦い)
"tannin taste" - shibu-i (しぶい、渋い)

As the last syllable of each word has  "-i "(pronounced as not " ai " but " yi  ") they are all adjectives. The noun forms are quire regular

1) showing the degree of taste

degree of sweetness - ama-sa (あまさ)
degree of sourerness - suppa-sa (すっぱさ)
degree of hotness (spiciness) - kara-sa (からさ)
degree of saltiness - shio-kara-sa (しおからさ) or shoppa-sa (しょっぱさ)
degree of bitterness - niga-sa (にがさ)
degree of "tannin taste" - shibu-i (しぶさ)

-sa (さ) is the Japanese Native suffix changing an adjective to a noun

and

2) showing xxxx-ness itself

sweetness - ama-mi (あまみ)
sourerness - suppa-mi (すっぱみ)
hotness (spiciness) - kara-mi (からみ)
saltiness - shio-kara-mi (しおからみ) or shoppa-mi (しょっぱみ)
bitterness - niga-mi (にがみ)
"tannin taste" - shibu-mi　(しぶさみ)

-mi (み) is the Chinese origin suffix from Chinese origin (mi, 味) (meaning " taste" ) changing an adjective to a noun.  Chinese word 味 is now pronounced as <wei> in Mandaline (Putonghua) but as pronounced <mei> in Cantonese and may have been as <mi> or similar pronunciation in some time and somewhere close to Japan so <mi> is unlikely to the native Japanese.

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Colors in Native Japanese

Ancient Japanese people are suppose not to be color blind but to not so creative in naming the colors they saw.

The native Japanese word for color is iro (いろ、色 in Chinese character）. We have only a very few genuine names of colors. Meanwhile <iro-iro (いろいろ）> does not mean 'colorful', but means 'in various ways', 'in many different kinds' and very commonly used and used as an adverb. The adjective form or "specifying" form of adjective-verb" is <iro-iro-na (いろいろな）>. The word  for colorful is <iro-tori-dori (いろとりどり）>, meaning literally '(able) to take any color'. These few are:

kuro (くろ、黒 in Chinese character), adj. kuro-i (くろい) 　- 　black
shiro (しろ、白）, adj. shiro-i  (しろい) 　 -　white
ao (あお、青）, adj. ao-i　(あおろい)   -  blue
midori (みどり、緑） - green
ki(iro) (き（いろ）、黄（色））  - yellow　

midori (みどり、緑）and  ki(iro) (き(いろ)) may not be genuine as  they have only a noun form and do not have an adjective form while the others have genuine adjective form. Also most Japanese native basic words are two syllables like kuro, shiro, aka, a-o while midoi has excetionally three syllable and ki is one syllable.To make these two naous adjective we add 'no (の)' like

midori-no (みどりの)
kiiro-no (きいろの) while  ki-no (きの)　is occasionally used.

kuro (くろ) has some related words - kurai (くらい) : dark, not so familiar (with) ; bon-kura (ぼんくら), nama-kura (なまくら) : dull

The opposite to kuro (くろ) is not shiro (しろ、白） or white but aka  (あか）or red is this sense.

aka  (あか）has some related words - akarui (あかるい) - bright, very familiar (with) ; akiraka-na (あきらかな) - clear, clarified; akeru (あける) - to open

Exception to the above

kuro-to (くろおと)  -  professional
kuro-obi (くろおび)  -  black-belt in Judo

shiro-to (しろおと)  -  amateur
shiro-obi (しろおび) - white-belt in Judo

shiro (しろ） does not necessarily mean "good" (against like black market, black society). It shows lacking brightness of color; whitish, mixed, diffused with white brings less clearness, reduces transperance.

shira-keru (しらける) means "killing good atmosphere"
shira-jra-shii (しらじらしい) means " apparently known despite trying to hide or to lie ", "without hesitation, shame".
shira-o-kiru (しらをきる) means " to try not to admit done something wrong (lied)"

The adjective form is shiro-i  (しろい) but the prefix form 'shira- (しら-)' and 'shira- (しら-)' are used as set expression.

examples
shira-uo (しら-うお) white fish
hira-kumo (しら-くも) white cloud
shira-yuki (しら-ゆき) white snow 　－shira-yuki-hime (しら-ゆき-ひめ(queen)): snow white

shiro-kuma (しろ-くま) white bear,  'shiro-i kuma' is more general.
shiro-neko (しろ-ねこ) white cat,  'shiro-i neko' is more general.
shiro-mi (しろ-み) white part meat, 'shiro-i mi' is more general.


Therefore we could say we have only four (4) genuine colors. If black and while are not regarded as color we have only two genuine colors - aka (あか) and ao (あお).

The names of the other colors are borrowed  from the names of plants, minerals and animals (including birds).

daidai　（だいだい、橙）or orenji (Orange) +  iro ( いろ、色) - orange color
momo （もも、桃）+  iro ( いろ、色)  - peach color
murasaki (むらさき、紫) +  iro ( いろ、色)  -　violet (purple) color
nezumi (ねずみ)　+  iro ( いろ、色)  -　mouse, rat color
mizu (みず、水)　　+  iro ( いろ、色)  -　water color - pale blue color

combination - commonly used

ki-midori (きみどり、黄緑)　＝　yellowish green
ao-ji-ro-i (shi-ro-i) ＝　pale blue, whitish blue

Seems that is all.
----
Chinese origin - commonly used
kin (きん、金)　+  iro ( いろ、色)　－　gold color 
ｇin (ぎん、銀)　+  iro ( いろ、色)　－　silver color 
hai (はい、灰)　+  iro ( いろ、色)　－　ash color --> gray (grey)
cha (ちゃ、茶)　+  iro ( いろ、色)　－　tea color --> brown
koge-cha (こげちゃ、焦茶)　+  iro ( いろ、色)　－　dark tea color --> dark brown
<koge> (こげ) is a Native word meaning "scorched".
oudou (おうどう、黄銅)　+  iro ( いろ、色)　－　brass color 
----

The following are native Japanese but not common. Most young Japanese may not know which colors  they are.

akane (あかね、茜) +  iro　－　the name of a plant meaning "red root'
asagi (あさぎ)  +  iro －　the name of a plant
uguisu (うぐいす、鶯) +  iro －　the name of a bird
moegi (もえぎ)　+  iro －　the name of a plant (?)

combinations

Most young Japanese may not know which colors  they are but can guess.

aka-murasaki (あかむらさき、赤紫)　＝　reddish  violet (purple)
ao-murasaki　 (あおむらさき、青紫) 　＝　blueish violet (purple)

usu- from usui (うす（い）、薄（い) is used a prefex meaning "light'.

usu-midori (うすみどり、薄緑)　－　light green
usu-murasaki (うすむらさき、薄紫)　－　light violet (purple)


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