颜色 | Colors in Chinese

How many colors do you know in Chinese?

And do you know what each color represents in Chinese culture?

Let's explore 12 essential colors this week!

Color in Chinese

              

To begin, let's look at the word "color" itself:

颜色

yánsè

color(s)

The measure word for it is 种 zhǒng.

Rainbow Colors

              

What are the colors of the rainbow in your language?

In China, kids recite this phrase:

红橙黄绿蓝靛紫

Hóng chéng huáng lǜ lán diàn zǐ

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet

Following this sequence, let's look at each of the 7 colors one by one.

01. RED

红色

hóngsè

red

Red is the color of good fortune, happiness and success. It's the national color of China. In Chinese culture, red means vitality, long life and happiness. It is a color that is thought to bring luck, recognition, and fame.

02. ORANGE

橙色

chéngsè

orange

Orange is a bright color that represents passion, vitality, warmth, and a positive and upward spirit. It's a sunny color that makes people feel warm and joyful. In Chinese culture, orange also represents gold and wealth.

03. YELLOW

黄色

huángsè

yellow

Yellow is the royal color. It symbolizes imperiality, the power of the throne, and prosperity. It is a color that corresponds to Earth and is reserved for the Emperor.

Yellow is one of the central colors in traditional Chinese culture and a color that is present in their history since ancient times. The main river of China is called the Yellow River, 黄河 (Huánghé).

04. GREEN

绿色

lǜsè

green

Green is one of the colors that have a lucky meaning in China. It is also the color that represents the spring season, mainly because spring is the season when everything comes back to life. Green also symbolizes in the Chinese culture health, patience, sensitivity, harmony, wealth, and fertility.

Trees, plants, green vegetables are 绿色 (lǜsè). But there's another word for "green" in Chinese:

青色

qīngsè

green

You can think of 青 (qīng) as of "cyan". The sky on a clear day is 青 (qīng), so it's somewhat of a mixture between green and blue.

05. BLUE

蓝色

lánsè

blue

In Chinese culture, blue is a symbol of eternity. It also represents calmness, authenticity, stability, faith, and cleanliness. Chinese people particularly love blue fabrics, such as indigo wax dyed fabrics and blue printed patterned fabrics.

06. INDIGO

靛蓝色

diànlánsè

indigo blue

07. VIOLET

紫色

zǐsè

violet

Purple is the color of love. This is one of the colors that represents something completely different in the Chinese culture compared to the West. While someone from the West would say that purple is the color of royalty, luxury, ambition, and nobility, things are pretty different in China. Here, purple symbolizes love and it is used just how red is used in the West. Purple also represents strength and spiritual awareness.

Grayscale

in Chinese

              

Now let's look at the grayscale palette.

01. BLACK

黑色

hēisè

black

Black is the color of the authority. It symbolizes power, knowledge, and authority. Contrary to what many people would believe, water is not represented by blue, but by black. At the same time, black could also be an unlucky color, associated with evil and destruction; this is why you should not wear black at a wedding or happy event.

02. WHITE

白色

báisè

white

In the West, death is often represented by black. But in the Chinese traditional color symbolism, death is represented by white. This is a major difference compared with the Western cultures, where brides wear white dresses and the color is associated with purity. In Chinese culture, white is the color that represents metal and it is one of the unlucky ones. It is associated with mourning and death, so it is the color worn at funerals by Chinese people.

03. GREY

灰色

huīsè

grey

To Chinese people, grey color represents the color of the villages in the south of China, with brick walls and gray roof tiles. The famous Hui-style architecture in Anhui province mostly uses grey color too. Grey color is also often used in traditional Chinese landscape paintings which depict the layers of mountains and rivers. You could think of grey as of another romantic color in Chinese culture.

...And 2 More Colors

              

Finally, there are 2 more colors you might need in your daily life:

PINK

粉色

fěnsè

pink

BROWN

棕色 / 咖啡色

zōngsè / kāfēisè

brown

Your Turn

              

Now it's your turn to share with us in comments!

What is your favourite color?

你最喜欢的颜色是什么？

Nǐ zuì xǐhuan de yánsè shì shénme?

lit. "You-most-like-(de)-color-is-what"?

Learn with a Video

              

To listen to the Chinese pronunciation of different colors, watch our recent video:

Practice with Teachers

              

To discuss the colors and their meanings

with Chinese teachers,

book a free trial class with That's Mandarin 👇

Have questions?

Ask us on WeChat!

@thatsmandarin006