The word arcoíris is the combination of the words arco (meaning arch or bow) and iris (meaning rainbow in Latin, the language from which Spanish is derived).
Latin American Pronunciation
European Spanish Pronunciation
There is some debate surrounding how to properly spell ‘rainbow‘ in Spanish. You’ll come across both arcoíris, written as one word with an accent on the í, and arco iris, written separately without the accent. However, according to the Real Academia Española, the preferred spelling these days is arcoíris. Note that the accent is essential for the single word, as it contains a sequence of a stressed closed vowel followed by an unstressed open vowel.
¡Qué hermoso arcoíris!
What a beautiful rainbow!
Arcoíris is an invariable noun, which is just a fancy term for a noun with the same form in the singular and plural. It is also masculine, as you can see from the following definite and indefinite articles:
- el arcoíris = the rainbow
- un arcoíris = a rainbow
- los arcoíris = the rainbows
- unos arcoíris = some rainbows
As we covered in our article about the word color, the seven most commonly cited colours of the rainbow (colores del arcoíris), as defined by Isaac Newton, are as follows:
- rojo = red
- naranja = orange
- amarillo = yellow
- verde = green
- azul = blue
- índigo = indigo
- violeta = violet (or morado = purple)
The term bebé arcoíris in Spanish refers to a rainbow baby in English. A rainbow baby is a baby born to parents who have previously experienced a miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss. The rainbow baby represents hope and healing after the storm of loss, just as a rainbow appears after a storm. The term bebé arcoíris is used to symbolise the beauty and joy that can come after a period of sadness and grief associated with pregnancy loss.
The expression al final del arcoíris (at the end of the rainbow) is used to refer to something elusive or unattainable.
If you are looking for an easy way to learn the colours of the rainbow in Spanish, we recommend memorising this cute little Spanish children’s song La canción de los colores del arco iris!
