颜色

yán sè

colour

HSK Level 2

Example Sentences

我喜欢红色的衣服。

wǒ xǐhuān hóngsè de yīfu.

I like red clothes.

天是蓝色的。

tiān shì lánsè de.

The sky is blue.

草是绿色的。

cǎo shì lǜsè de.

The grass is green.

Synonyms

色儿 (sè er)

color

色彩 (sècǎi)

color

Antonyms

黑白 (hēibái)

black and white

无色 (wúsè)

colorless

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Etymology & Components

The Chinese word 颜色 (yánsè) for "color" is a compound of two characters: 颜 (yán) and 色 (sè). The character 颜 originally meant "face" or "appearance", and was often used in ancient Chinese texts to refer to a person's complexion or facial expression. The character 色 originally meant "silk" or "thread", and was later used to refer to the color or hue of an object. When combined, the two characters 颜 and 色 create the word 颜色, which refers to the visual perception of light reflected from an object. In modern Chinese, 颜色 is used to refer to any color or shade, and is an essential part of everyday vocabulary.