HSK Level 5

purple

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Example Sentences

紫色的花很漂亮。

zǐ sè de huā hěn piào liang.

Purple flowers are very beautiful.

我喜歡紫色的衣服。

wǒ xǐ huan zǐ sè de yī fu.

I like purple clothes.

紫禁城是中國古代的皇宮。

zǐ jìn chéng shì zhōng guó gǔ dài de huáng gōng.

The Forbidden City was the imperial palace of ancient China.

Synonyms

(jiàng)

dark purple

紫罗兰 (zǐ luó lán)

violet

Antonyms

(bái)

white

(hēi)

black

Etymology & Components

The Chinese character 紫 (zǐ) for "purple" is composed of two parts: the radical 糸 (mì) and the phonetic component 糸 (sī). The radical 糸 originally meant "silk" or "thread," and it is often used in characters related to textiles or clothing. In the case of 紫, the radical 糸 is used to indicate that the character is related to color. The phonetic component 糸 (sī) is used to indicate the pronunciation of the character. The character 紫 is first seen in oracle bone script, the earliest known form of Chinese writing. In oracle bone script, the character 紫 is written as a combination of the radical 糸 and the character 糸 (sī). The character 糸 (sī) is used to indicate the pronunciation of the character, and it is also used to indicate that the character is related to color. Over time, the character 紫 evolved into its current form.