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有色 (yǒu sè) — (v.o.) to have color; colored; (in fixed compounds) biased; prejudiced (e.g., 有色眼镜)

Definition

Literally 'have color / colored' — in everyday use it appears mainly in set phrases like 有色眼镜 ('tinted glasses, fig. prejudiced view') and 有色人种 ('people of color'), where it conveys 'tinted' or 'non-white'. Rarely used as a plain verb on its own.

verb
(v.o.) to have colorcolored(in fixed compounds) biasedprejudiced (e.g., 有色眼镜)

Examples

  • 有色，。
    Tā zǒng dài zhe yǒu sè yǎn jìng kàn rén, zhè yàng bù hǎo.
    He always looks at people through colored glasses — that's not good.
  • 有色？
    Zhè fú huà yòng le shén me yǒu sè?
    What colors are used in this painting?
  • 有色。
    yǒu sè Rén zhǒng de quán lì yīng dāng shòu dào zūn zhòng.
    The rights of people of color should be respected.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

有yǒuhave
色sècolor

有 'have' and 色 'color' form 'having color', extended to 'colored'.

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
肉肉ròumeat
Sound part声符shēngfú
又
又yòu有yǒu
Same sound today

The form 有 combines 又, used for its sound, with a shape from 肉, 'meat'; the hand-holding-meat story is a folk explanation, not shown in the oldest shape.

Open 有 →

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
Colors

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