It’s that time of the week when we line up a pair of very similar-looking Spanish words and set down their differences in usage in black and white. The two we’re targeting today are blanco and blanca.
Let’s start with blanco, whose pronunciation you can listen to here.
If you describe something using the adjective blanco (or blanca, blancos, blancas to agree in number and gender with the noun it qualifies), you mean it is the colour of snow, a colour that’s often associated with purity – white in other words:
Victor sacó de su bolsillo un pañuelo blanco.
Victor took a white handkerchief out of his pocket.
Sonrió, mostrando una dentadura blanca, perfecta.
He smiled, revealing perfect white teeth.
Tenía los cabellos blancos.
She had white hair.
El piso estaba cubierto de baldosas blancas y negras.
The floor was laid with black and white tiles.
Blanco is also used to identify the skin colour of people of predominantly European ancestry – White or white:
Era un hombre joven, blanco, de mediana estatura.
He was a young, White man of average build.
Es una mujer blanca, de ojos azules.
She’s a White woman, with blue eyes.
Blanco is also used to describe someone’s complexion or skin tone when it is noticeably pale, whether naturally so or as a result of shock, for instance. It might be the equivalent of white, pale or fair, depending on the context:
el joven arquitecto pelirrojo, de tez blanca, ojos brillantes
the young red-haired architect, with his fair or pale complexion and sparkling eyes
Tenía el pelo níveo, el cutis blanco, los ojos de un gris pálido.
She had snowy hair, pale or fair skin, pale-grey eyes.
Estaba blanca de miedo.
She was white with fear.
¡Estás más blanco que la leche!
You’re pale as milk!
Blanco is used to identify paler varieties of certain things such as bread, sugar or grapes – white:
el pan blanco
white bread
Generalmente se sazona con sal y un poco de pimienta blanca.
It’s usually seasoned with salt and a little white pepper.
Se sirve sobre arroz blanco.
It’s served on a bed of white rice.
Se elaboran vinos blancos, tintos y rosados.
They produce white, red and rosé wines.
Moving on to the masculine noun blanco, it too can mean the colour white:
El blanco y el negro son los colores dominantes.
Black and white are the dominant colours.
Estaba vestido de blanco y con botas de charol.
He was dressed in white and wearing patent-leather boots.
Un blanco can also be a White man:
una mujer de raza negra, casada con un blanco
a Black woman, married to a White man
Los blancos no entienden esto.
White people don’t understand this.
Darting around and onto something completely different, un blanco is what you aim to hit when shooting, firing or throwing a missile – a target:
Le disparó a un blanco en movimiento acertando todos sus tiros.
He was shooting at a moving target, but all his shots hit their mark.
¡No se detengan! ¡No sean un blanco fácil!
Don’t stop! Don’t be an easy target!
Un blanco can also be a target of criticism, abuse or violence:
Sé que soy un blanco ideal para los enemigos de nuestra causa.
I know I’m an ideal target for the enemies of our cause.
Los presos politicos somos un blanco muy fácil.
We political prisoners are an easy target.
Additionally el blanco is something with nothing on or in it. It might be the space on a page or the gap between things:
El blanco tipográfico hace sobresalir las líneas escritas.
White space makes the written lines stand out.
El lector tiene que llenar los blancos que deja la narración.
The reader has to fill in the blanks left by the narrative.
Había que llenar un espacio en blanco de la página 4.
There was a gap on page 4 to complete.
Es como la primera hoja en blanco del cuaderno de un colegial.
It’s like the first blank page in a schoolboy’s notebook.
Moving on to blanca (feminine), you can listen to how it’s pronounced here:
Just as un blanco is a White man and los blancos are White people, una blanca is a White woman:
la hija de un aristócrata negro y de una blanca
the daughter of a Black aristocrat and a White woman
In music notation, una blanca is a white note with a stem that is worth two crotchets/quarter notes or half a semibreve/whole note. In other words it’s a minim (in US: half note):
¿Cuál es la diferencia entre las redondas y las blancas?
What’s the difference between semibreves and minims? (US: What’s the difference between whole notes and half notes?)
DID YOU KNOW?
Whereas in English we say black and white, Spanish puts blanco first – blanco y negro:
las teclas blancas y negras del piano
the black and white keys on the piano
La película fue filmada en blanco y negro.
The movie was filmed in black and white.
QUIZ TIME
A] ¿Qué color se obtiene mezclando… (What colour do you get if you mix…)
- …blanco con rojo?
- …azul con amarillo?
- …rojo con azul?
- …negro con blanco?
- …rojo con amarillo?
B] What gender are nouns denoting colours in Spanish regardless of their ending?
ANSWERS
A]
- Rosa (white + red = pink)
- Verde (blue + yellow = green)
- Violeta or morado or púrpura (red + blue = purple)
- Gris (black + white = grey)
- Naranja (red + yellow = orange)
B] Spanish nouns for colours are masculine even when they take their name from a feminine noun for something such as a flower or a fruit:
Mi color preferido es el rosa.
My favourite colour is pink.
Colores como el violeta, el naranja o el marrón no son colores primarios.
Colours like purple, orange or brown aren’t primary colours.
El lago cambia de color de un azul intenso a un verde esmeralda.
The lake’s colour changes from a deep blue to an emerald green.
To separate out the shades of meaning between some more similar-looking Spanish words, join us again next week.
