In Spanish there also a word for light blue, “celeste” (etymologically related to “sky”), and how appropriate it is to say just “azul” (blue) instead of “celeste” depends on context. For example, an Argentine would never call their flag “azul y blanca” (blue and white) since they are taught from childhood that it is “celeste y blanca”. But they wouldn’t mind saying the sky on a clear day is either “azul” or “celeste”. A same piece of light blue cloth might be called “celeste” in some occasions, and “azul” in others—for example if one just wants to contrast it with a red one.
Yeah, in flags, football jerseys, etc. Italian is more precise too, using blu only for royal blue or darker, celeste for sky blue or lighter, and azzurro for intermediate shades of blue.
(I think I saw a list of English—Italian ‘false friends’ which listed blu/blue as false friends, saying that It. blu corresponds to Engl. navy blue and Engl. blue corresponds to It. azzurro! In some specific contexts that might well be/have been the case, but I don’t think there are that many people left who would normally use azzurro for (say) Uno cards, let alone people who would consider it exceedingly weird if you called such a card blu.)
In Spanish there also a word for light blue, “celeste” (etymologically related to “sky”), and how appropriate it is to say just “azul” (blue) instead of “celeste” depends on context. For example, an Argentine would never call their flag “azul y blanca” (blue and white) since they are taught from childhood that it is “celeste y blanca”. But they wouldn’t mind saying the sky on a clear day is either “azul” or “celeste”. A same piece of light blue cloth might be called “celeste” in some occasions, and “azul” in others—for example if one just wants to contrast it with a red one.
Yeah, in flags, football jerseys, etc. Italian is more precise too, using blu only for royal blue or darker, celeste for sky blue or lighter, and azzurro for intermediate shades of blue.
(I think I saw a list of English—Italian ‘false friends’ which listed blu/blue as false friends, saying that It. blu corresponds to Engl. navy blue and Engl. blue corresponds to It. azzurro! In some specific contexts that might well be/have been the case, but I don’t think there are that many people left who would normally use azzurro for (say) Uno cards, let alone people who would consider it exceedingly weird if you called such a card blu.)