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Kanji for Green
The kanji most commonly used for "Green" are 緑、翠、碧.
緑
Kanji that mean Green
緑 (midori / ryoku) is green — the thread radical 糸 beside a phonetic: originally the colour of new dyed silk. It is the green of 新緑 (fresh May foliage), 緑茶 (green tea) and 緑地 (green space). Famously, Japanese treated green as a shade of blue until modern times — a green light is still 青信号 — so 緑 as an independent colour word is younger than the colour deserves. As a name, Midori is worn from violinists to video-game heroines.
翠 (sui / midori) is the jewel green — kingfisher-feather colour, the character of 翡翠 (hisui), jade. It reads precious and cool, and modern parents love it in names (Sui, Akira). 碧 (heki / ao / midori) is the blue-green of deep water, shared with this site’s blue page — the colour argument between the two pages is the point.
Around them: 若葉 (young leaves), 苔 (moss — whose green Japan gardens like treasure), and 松 (the pine, green through winter: constancy itself).
Words using Green kanji
Everyday Japanese vocabulary built from the characters above.
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緑地
りょくち
green tract of land; green space
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緑化
りょっか
greening (i.e. planting to increase greenery); tree planting; afforestation
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新緑
しんりょく
fresh verdure; new green leaves
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緑茶
りょくちゃ
green tea; Japanese tea
Before you use Green kanji
緑 is fresh, natural and safe — though as a tattoo it reads a little like the word on a paint chip. 翠 is the elegant pick: jade-green, kingfisher-feather, name-grade beauty. For green as everlastingness, the culture's own symbol is the pine 松 — evergreen constancy — rather than the colour word.