Chinese colour words
Chinese words for colours: red, blue, green and more
Colors are useful vocabulary, but their names, cultural associations and English translations depend on context. This guide gives the common character, pinyin and full colour word.
Quick answer: 颜色 (yánsè) means colour or color. 红 is red, 蓝 is blue, 绿 is green, 黑 is black and 白 is white; the suffix 色 often turns the adjective into a colour noun.
颜色 (yánsè) means color. Many basic colours use an adjective character plus 色, such as 红色 or 蓝色. The character alone can work in compounds: 红玫瑰 is a red rose, while 红色 is the colour category. Neither form should be treated as a universal translation without checking the sentence.
Colour chart
12 common colours
Pinyin is shown with the common full colour word where useful.
| Character | Pinyin | Colour word | English | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 红 | hóng | 红色 hóngsè | red | 红玫瑰 a red rose |
| 黄 | huáng | 黄色 huángsè | yellow | 黄花 a yellow flower |
| 蓝 | lán | 蓝色 lánsè | blue | 蓝天 the blue sky |
| 绿 | lǜ | 绿色 lǜsè | green | 绿茶 green tea |
| 黑 | hēi | 黑色 hēisè | black | 黑咖啡 black coffee |
| 白 | bái | 白色 báisè | white | 白衬衫 a white shirt |
| 灰 | huī | 灰色 huīsè | grey / gray | 灰猫 a grey cat |
| 粉 | fěn | 粉色 fěnsè | pink | 粉红玫瑰 a pink rose |
| 紫 | zǐ | 紫色 zǐsè | purple | 紫葡萄 purple grapes |
| 橙 | chéng | 橙色 chéngsè | orange | 橙汁 orange juice |
| 棕 | zōng | 棕色 zōngsè | brown | 棕色鞋 brown shoes |
| 金 | jīn | 金色 jīnsè | gold | 金色的太阳 the golden sun |
Two notes: pink can be written 粉色 or 粉红, and 橙 is both the colour orange and the fruit. The character alone often appears in compounds, while the 色 form works as a colour noun, so check the sentence before choosing a form.
Light, dark and shades
浅 (qiǎn) often means light or pale: 浅蓝 is light blue and 浅绿 is light green. 深 (shēn) often means deep or dark: 深蓝 is dark blue and 深绿 is dark green. These combinations are useful, but the exact shade and preferred wording can vary by context.
Colour questions and examples
什么颜色？ (shénme yánsè?) means “What colour?” 你喜欢什么颜色？ asks “What colour do you like?” Examples include 蓝天 (blue sky), 绿茶 (green tea), 黑咖啡 (black coffee), 白云 (white cloud) and 金色的太阳 (the golden sun).
Cultural meanings and limits
Colours carry cultural associations that vary by region, occasion and personal context. Red is often associated with celebration, while white and black can have different meanings in weddings, funerals, design and everyday clothing. Do not reduce a colour to one universal meaning or promise that it will bring luck.
Common mistakes
- Assuming every colour adjective and colour noun are interchangeable.
- Using English colour associations as if they apply everywhere.
- Ignoring tone marks and the ü sound in 绿 (lǜ).
- Using a colour word without checking the complete object or phrase.
Chinese colour questions
How do you say colour in Chinese?
颜色 (yánsè) means colour or color. A specific colour often uses a character plus 色, such as 红色 red or 蓝色 blue.
How do you say red in Chinese?
红 (hóng) is the adjective red; 红色 (hóngsè) is the colour noun. 红玫瑰 means a red rose.
How do you say light blue or dark green?
浅蓝 (qiǎn lán) commonly means light blue, and 深绿 (shēn lǜ) commonly means dark green. The exact wording still depends on context.
Do Chinese colours have lucky meanings?
Some colours have strong cultural associations, especially red in celebrations, but meanings vary and do not guarantee luck, wealth or protection.
What is the difference between 红 and 红色?
红 alone works as an adjective before a noun, as in 红苹果. 红色 names the colour itself and is used when the colour is the subject, as in 我喜欢红色.
How do you say light blue and dark blue in Chinese?
浅蓝 is light blue and 深蓝 is dark blue. 浅 and 深 modify the colour, and 淡, 亮 and 暗 build other shades.
What do 天蓝 and 草绿 mean?
They are colour words borrowed from nature: 天蓝 is sky blue and 草绿 is grass green. Chinese has many such evocative colour names.
Is 绿 written the same in traditional Chinese?
No. 绿 in simplified Chinese is 綠 in traditional Chinese, and 红 becomes 紅. Keep one script consistent across a phrase.
Does red always mean good luck in Chinese culture?
Red is strongly associated with celebration and good fortune in many contexts, but it is not an absolute rule. Region, occasion and taste matter, and a colour does not cause luck.
Is it 红 or 红色?
红色 names the colour as a noun; bare 红 works as an adjective before a noun. Both 红衣服 and 红色的衣服 are correct, and the bare form sounds lighter in everyday speech.
How do you ask what colour in Chinese?
Say 这是什么颜色？ (What colour is this?) or 你喜欢什么颜色？ (What colour do you like?). The standard form is 什么颜色, not 什么红颜色.
How do you say light blue and dark red in Chinese?
Put 浅, 深, 淡 or 亮 before the colour: 浅蓝 (light blue), 深红 (deep red), 淡黄 (pale yellow), 亮绿 (bright green). 浅 and 深 are the most common pair.
What does 天蓝 or 雪白 mean?
They are nature-based shades: 天蓝 is sky blue and 雪白 is snow white. Other examples are 草绿 (grass green), 墨黑 (ink black), 银灰 (silver grey) and 湖蓝 (lake blue).
What does 眼红 mean?
眼红 (yǎn hóng) means jealous or envious, not literally red-eyed. 脸红 (liǎn hóng) is to blush from embarrassment, and 脸都绿了 means someone looks sick, horrified or furious.
What is traffic light and rainbow in Chinese?
Traffic light is 红绿灯 (hónglǜdēng); the amber light is 黄灯. Rainbow is 彩虹, and 彩色 means colour as opposed to black-and-white, as in 彩色照片.
Why does 黄色 sometimes sound rude?
Because modern slang uses 黄色 for adult or pornographic content. As a plain colour it is perfectly neutral, so context decides. The word 黄 also appears in 黄了, meaning a plan or deal fell through.
Need a colour phrase checked?
Send the object, the shade and the setting. A reply can explain the common wording and any cultural or visual risk.
Request a colour checkBack to phrases颜色 versus 色
Is it 红色 or just 红? The noun, the suffix and the adjective
English “red” covers a colour word, a colour name and a colour adjective. Chinese splits these: 颜色 (yánsè) is the general noun “colour”, 红色 (hóngsè) is the colour name “red”, and bare 红 (hóng) works as an adjective before a noun or in compounds.
| Form | Example | Pinyin | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noun — 颜色 | 你喜欢什么颜色？ | nǐ xǐhuan shénme yánsè | “What colour do you like?” 颜色 is the general word for colour and usually needs no 色 suffix after it. |
| Colour name — X + 色 | 我最喜欢红色。 | wǒ zuì xǐhuan hóngsè | As a standalone noun, colours normally carry 色: 红色, 蓝色, 绿色, 黑色. |
| Adjective — bare colour | 她穿了一件红衣服。 | tā chuān le yí jiàn hóng yīfu | Before a noun, the bare colour works as an adjective and 色 is usually dropped. |
| Colour + 的 | 那是一件红色的衬衫。 | nà shì yí jiàn hóngsè de chènshān | 红色 + 的 before a noun is also correct and is a little more explicit. |
| Colour as a subject | 红代表喜庆。 | hóng dàibiǎo xǐqìng | In a cultural statement, the bare colour can stand alone as the subject. |
The rule of thumb: 红色 names the colour, 红 describes a noun. Both 红衣服 and 红色的衣服 are correct, and the bare form is the one that sounds lightest in everyday speech.
The full colour grid
Twelve colours with pinyin, tones and simplified / traditional forms
The 读音 (reading) and the writing system both matter when a colour goes onto a card, a label or a design. Keep pinyin, tones and simplified or traditional forms together so nothing is mixed.
| 简体 | 繁体 | 拼音 | Common compound and note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 红色 | 紅色 | hóngsè | Red. 红 becomes 紅 in traditional writing; the colour carries luck and celebration in many contexts. |
| 橙色 | 橙色 | chéngsè | Orange. Unchanged in both systems; also used for the fruit colour. |
| 黄色 | 黃色 | huángsè | Yellow. 黄 becomes 黃 in traditional writing; modern slang uses it for “adult” content, so the neutral colour sense needs context. |
| 绿色 | 綠色 | lǜsè | Green. 绿 becomes 綠 in traditional writing; the tone is the tricky fourth-tone 绿 (lǜ). |
| 蓝色 | 藍色 | lánsè | Blue. 蓝 becomes 藍 in traditional writing. |
| 紫色 | 紫色 | zǐsè | Purple. Unchanged in both systems; 紫 also appears in 紫禁城 (the Forbidden City). |
| 黑色 | 黑色 | hēisè | Black. Unchanged in both systems; 黑 also means dark or shady in compounds. |
| 白色 | 白色 | báisè | White. Unchanged; 白 is also the word for plain or blank. |
| 粉色 | 粉色 | fěnsè | Pink. Literally “powder colour”; the plant word 粉 also means pink in flowers. |
| 灰色 | 灰色 | huīsè | Grey. Unchanged; 灰 also means ash or dust. |
| 棕色 | 棕色 | zōngsè | Brown. 棕 is the palm or brown fibre; northern speakers also say 咖啡色 (coffee colour). |
| 金色 / 银色 | 金色 / 銀色 | jīnsè / yínsè | Gold and silver. 银 becomes 銀 in traditional writing; both are used for metallic colours and materials. |
Two colours need a note. 青色 (qīngsè) is a classical colour covering blue-green, spring green and sometimes black; its exact English label depends on context. 褐色 (hèsè) is an alternative brown, common in formal or written descriptions.
Shades and nature colours
天蓝, 草绿, 雪白 and 墨黑: building colours from images
Chinese builds precise shades in two ways: an adverb such as 浅, 深, 淡 or 亮 before the colour, or a nature image as the first element. The nature compounds are vivid and very common in design and marketing copy.
| Chinese | Pinyin | Meaning | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 浅蓝 | qiǎn lán | Light blue | 浅 means shallow or light; it works with almost any colour. |
| 深红 | shēn hóng | Deep red | 深 means deep or dark. Common for wine, brick and lacquer tones. |
| 淡黄 | dàn huáng | Pale yellow | 淡 means pale or weak; slightly more literary than 浅. |
| 亮绿 | liàng lǜ | Bright green | 亮 means bright or shiny. |
| 天蓝 | tiān lán | Sky blue | Literally “sky blue”. A standard shade name. |
| 草绿 | cǎo lǜ | Grass green | Literally “grass green”. Warm and natural. |
| 雪白 | xuě bái | Snow white | Used as a fixed description, often for teeth, fabric or snow itself. |
| 墨黑 | mò hēi | Ink black | Literally “ink black”. Deep and slightly literary. |
| 银灰 | yín huī | Silver grey | Common for cars, hair and home design. |
| 橘黄 | jú huáng | Tangerine orange | 橘 is the tangerine; the compound names a warm yellow-orange. |
| 湖蓝 | hú lán | Lake blue | Literally “lake blue”, a teal-leaning shade. |
Note that 雪白 and 墨黑 are used more like fixed descriptors than as ordinary adjectives, and they often take 的 when they modify a noun: 雪白的牙齿, 墨黑的头发. They can also stand alone as predicates.
Colour in idioms
脸红, 眼红, 脸都绿了 and 绿灯: colour beyond the palette
Colours carry meanings that have nothing to do with paint. Red can be embarrassment, green can be envy or illness, and a green light is permission. These expressions are common in speech and are usually not translated literally.
| Chinese | Pinyin | Literal | Actually means |
|---|---|---|---|
| 脸红 | liǎn hóng | Face red | To blush, from embarrassment, shyness or heat. |
| 眼红 | yǎn hóng | Eyes red | To be envious or jealous, not literally red-eyed. |
| 脸都绿了 | liǎn dōu lǜ le | Face turned green | To look sick, horrified or furious. The English equivalent is closer to “turned white”. |
| 开门红 | kāimén hóng | Red at the door | A good start to a business, season or year. |
| 绿灯 | lǜdēng | Green light | Permission to proceed, as in English. A traffic light green is also 绿灯. |
| 黑名单 | hēimíngdān | Black list | A blacklist. 白名单 is a whitelist. |
| 白忙 | bái máng | White busy | To work in vain, with nothing to show for it. |
| 黄了 | huáng le | Went yellow | Said of a plan or deal that fell through. |
These idioms are the reason colour vocabulary is worth learning beyond a list. 眼红 has nothing to do with eyes being red, and using a literal translation in English — “my eyes are red” for 眼红 — reverses the meaning.
Colour questions and examples
Asking about colour, describing objects and reading signals
Colour questions use 什么颜色 (“what colour”) rather than a colour-specific word, and colour descriptions usually sit between the measure word and the noun. The table shows the everyday patterns together with the signals and symbols people actually ask about.
| Chinese | Pinyin | Meaning | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 这是什么颜色？ | zhè shì shénme yánsè | What colour is this? | The standard question. 什么颜色 never takes a colour word before it. |
| 你喜欢什么颜色？ | nǐ xǐhuan shénme yánsè | What colour do you like? | Very common small talk. |
| 我要一件蓝色的。 | wǒ yào yí jiàn lánsè de | I want a blue one. | Colour + 的 stands in for the noun in a shop. |
| 有别的颜色吗？ | yǒu biéde yánsè ma | Do you have other colours? | A practical shopping line. |
| 红绿灯 | hónglǜdēng | Traffic light | The ordinary word pairs red and green; the amber light is 黄灯. |
| 彩虹 | cǎihóng | Rainbow | Literally “colour rainbow”; 彩 also means colourful, as in 彩色 (colour, not black and white). |
| 彩色 / 黑白 | cǎisè / hēibái | Colour / black-and-white | Used for photos, printing and television. |
| 五颜六色 | wǔ yán liù sè | Colourful, many colours | A common idiom for a rainbow-like mixture of colours. |
One practical note for shopping: 有别的颜色吗 is the fastest way to ask for another colour option, and 有没有小一号的？ or 有没有大一号的？ continues the same pattern for size.
Common mistakes
Five ways colour phrases go wrong
- Saying 什么红颜色. The question is 什么颜色 (“what colour”). 什么红 is not the standard form.
- Keeping 色 before a noun in speech. Both 红衣服 and 红色的衣服 are correct, but the bare form is the lighter everyday choice.
- Reading 绿 as lù. 绿 is fourth tone lǜ, not lù. The colour of a green light is lǜdēng.
- Translating 眼红 literally. 眼红 means jealous or envious, not “my eyes are red”.
- Assuming 黄 is only a colour. 黄 also appears in 黄了 (a deal fell through) and, in modern slang, 黄色 refers to adult content, so context matters.
Related guides
Nearby everyday phrases
Pair colours with the other descriptive sets. Use the weather guide for 天蓝 skies, the shopping guide for asking about another colour, the food guide for describing dishes, and the everyday phrase guide for the full set.
红 or 红色? When 色 is dropped
Most colour names have two forms: the bare character (红, 蓝, 绿) and the form with 色 (红色, 蓝色, 绿色). The bare form works as an adjective before a noun — 红苹果 (“red apple”), 蓝天 (“blue sky”), 绿茶 (“green tea”). The 色 form names the colour itself and is natural when the colour is the subject: 我喜欢红色 (“I like red”), 这是什么颜色？ (“what colour is this?”). You can often drop 色 in compounds, which is why 黑板 (“blackboard”), 红包 (“red envelope”) and 白云 (“white cloud”) do not add it.
Building shades with 浅, 深, 淡 and 亮
Chinese shades are usually built by adding a modifier before the colour. 浅 (qiǎn) makes it pale: 浅蓝, 浅绿, 浅粉. 深 (shēn) makes it deep or dark: 深蓝, 深红, 深灰. 淡 (dàn) is close to 浅 and often means light or mild: 淡黄, 淡紫. 亮 (liàng) means bright: 亮红, 亮蓝; 暗 (àn) means dark or dim: 暗红, 暗绿. A few colours also have dedicated words, so the exact preference varies by speaker and context.
Colours named after nature
Chinese has many evocative colour words borrowed from objects. 天蓝 (sky blue), 湖蓝 (lake blue) and 藏青 (navy) name blues. 草绿 (grass green) and 墨绿 (ink green) name greens. 玫瑰红 (rose red), 酒红 (wine red) and 枣红 (jujube red) name reds. 米白 (rice white) and 象牙白 (ivory white) name off-whites. These are useful for design because they communicate a specific tone rather than a flat band of colour, and they are common in clothing, paint and product descriptions.
Red and white: keep the cultural notes honest
Red is strongly associated with celebration, festivals, weddings and good fortune in many Chinese contexts, which is why red envelopes, red lanterns and red wedding elements are common. White and black carry different associations than in English in some contexts, including mourning. These are real conventions, but they are not absolute rules: fashion, region, occasion and personal taste all matter, and a colour does not cause luck or misfortune. Say what a colour often signals, and avoid promising that it will bring a particular outcome.
Learning and design notes
Learn the colour set with the bare form and the 色 form together, then practise modifying them. As a design or tattoo element, colour words are descriptive rather than symbolic, so they suit a label or an explanatory mark better than a blessing. Confirm simplified and traditional forms — 红 is 紅 in traditional, 绿 is 綠 — and keep the script consistent across the whole phrase.