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彩色 (cǎi sè) — color (the property of having colors; colorful appearance, as opposed to black-and-white)

Definition

彩色 (noun) refers to 'color' as in multicolored or in color, contrasted with black-and-white (黑白). More emphatic than 颜色 ('color' in general); 色彩 is the written/formal variant often used for artistic or figurative flavor.

noun
color (the property of having colors; colorful appearance, as opposed to black-and-white)
Measure word · 种

Examples

  • 彩色。
    Wǒ xǐ huan zhè zhāng cǎi sè de zhào piàn.
    I like this color photo.
  • 彩色。
    Tā huà le yì fú cǎi sè de huà.
    She painted a colorful picture.
  • 彩色。
    Zhè jiā diàn de cǎi sè qiān bǐ hěn hǎo kàn.
    This shop's color pencils are very pretty.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

彩cǎicolor
色sècolor

“彩” and “色” both refer to color; together they mean color or a multicolored appearance.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
彡彡shān
Sound part声符shēngfú
采
采cǎi彩cǎi
Same sound today

彩 puts 采, which gives the sound, next to 彡, the three-stroke mark that carries the meaning.

Open 彩 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

  • 爪爪zhuǎclaw; hand
  • 卩卩jiékneeling person

色 pairs 爪 (a hand) with 卩 (a kneeling person), showing a hand pressing down on the kneeling person.

Open 色 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 5Colors

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